Hilbert College

April 24, 2005

ROCHESTER, N.Y. – The Hilbert College baseball team lost a pair of games, 5-1 and 13-2, to St. John Fisher College in a non-conference doubleheader on Sunday afternoon.  The losses drop the Hawks record to 1-20 overall, while St. John Fisher improves to 17-12 on the season.

The host Cardinals got on the board first in game one, as a leadoff double by Jeff Fetzner off of Hilbert starter Dallas Reinard (Smethport, PA/Smethport) in the bottom half of the first inning was followed by an RBI single by Andy Campbell.  Hilbert College responded in the top half of the third inning.  Wally Skrzynski (Buffalo, NY/Lackawanna) led off with a single to right field.  Following a stolen base by Skrzynski and a stikeout by Joe Ferrara (Hamburg, NY/Frontier), Cardinal starter Mike Ruffo walked Tim Gornikiewicz (Dunkirk, NY/Dunkirk) and Glen Ufland (Buffalo, NY/Bishop Timon) to load the bases with only one out.  An RBI single by Sam Gioia (West Seneca, NY/West Seneca West) tied the game at one, but Tim Parsell (Silver Creek, NY/Silver Creek) grounded into an inning ending double play to end the Hilbert rally.  Two errors in the bottom half of the third inning led to two unearned runs, as St. John Fisher took a 3-1 lead.  The Hawks would not have a runner reach base for the rest of the game, going in order over the final four innings.  The Cardinals would add another unearned run in the fourth, and an RBI single by Ricky Palmeiro rounded out the scoring.  Reinard suffered the loss on the mound for the Hawks, allowing five runs, two earned, over six innings. 

Game two of the doubleheader started out promising for Hilbert.  Matt Markott (Angola, NY/Lake Shore) started a two-out rally in the top of the second inning with a walk.  After a single by Adam Koniniec (Depew, NY/Depew) and walk by Skrzynski loaded the bases, Cardinals starter Bryan Rodman walked Ferrara to give the Hawks an early 1-0 lead.  St. John Fisher tied the game in the bottom half of the inning, as a sacrifice fly by Chris Brown plated Matt Fuller and knotted the game at one apiece.  The Hawks came back in the third inning to score another run, as a double by starting pitcher Sam Gioia was aided by an error to the left fielder which allowed Gioia to come around to score, and give Hilbert a 2-1 lead.  The Cardinals finally solved Gioia in the fourth inning.  After a leadoff strikeout to Nick Bergman, St. John Fisher batters worked three walks in the innings, which led to four runs and gave the Cardinals a 5-2 lead.  After setting the Hawks down in order in the top half of the fourth, the Cardinals exploded for eight runs in the bottom half to take command of the game.  Chad King’s grand slam proved to be all of the insurance that St. John Fisher would need, as they cruised to the 13-2 victory.  Gioia suffered the loss on the mound for Hilbert, as he gave up four earned runs over four innings.  Matt Campbell went 3-for-3 in game two, and was a combined 6-for-7 in the twinbill.  He boosted his batting average to a team-leading .414.  Rodman picked up the win for the Cardinals.

Hilbert College resumes its schedule on Friday, April 29, as they travel to AMCC opponent La Roche College for a 1:00 PM doubleheader.