ROCHESTER, NY - The Utica University baseball team dropped games one and two of its three-game series against the St. John Fisher Cardinals on Saturday afternoon. 
 
With the game one loss, the Pioneers will enter the Empire 8 Tournament as the second-seed next week while Fisher clinched the regular season title and home field advantage. 
 
Fisher 5, Utica 2 (7 Inn.)
Brendan May (McGraw, NY/McGraw) led the team with a pair of hits at the plate while John Longeretta (Oriskany, NY/Oriskany), Jason Story (Hilton, NY/Hilton) and Tyler Jennings (Liverpool, NY/Liverpool) each had one. Matthew Kanyuk (Mellville, NY/Hills East) drew an RBI walk while Story drove home a run on a double. 
 
On the mound, Ryan Cardone (Whitesboro, NY/Whitesboro) went all six innings allowing five runs, four earned, on six hits and a walk and to hit batters. He struck out three in the losing effort as well. 
 
A silent 1st inning by both teams paved the waa for a loud 2nd frame. The Pioneers jumped ahead in the top half on a bases-loaded walk drawn by Kanyuk. However, that would be all for Utica. The Cardinals responded with a four run bottom half to gain some breathing room with a 4-1 lead. 
 
From there, Utica had two base runners from the 3rd through the 6th inning while Fisher added one more run in the 4th. Trailing 5-1 in the top of the 7th, Story pinch hit and delivered a one out RBI double to close the gap to three runs. With Story at second and May at third with one out, the next two Pioneer batters went down on strikes to close out game one. 
 
Fisher 5, Utica 3
Six Pioneers combined for six hits in the team as Dom Fasolo (Whitesboro, NY/Whitesboro), John Son (Mellville, NY/Half Hollow Hills), Jason Story (Hilton, NY/Hilton), John Longeretta (Oriskany, NY/Oriskany), Brendan May (McGraw, NY/McGraw) and Steve Sclafani (North Massapequa, NY/Farmingdale) each had one. Son, May and Sclafani drove in one run apiece. 
 
On the mound, Kooper Knabe (Cortland, NY/Cortland) was credited with his first career loss after going four innings allowing two runs on six hits, one walk, and one hit by pitch while striking out three. Derrike Goutremout (Chaumont, NY/Lyme Central) tossed the final four innings in relief and allowed three runs on three hits and five walks with four strikeouts. 
 
The Pioneers went silent over their first two trips to the dish while Fisher found the board in the bottom of the 2nd on a solo home run. 
 
Utica evened the score at 1-1 in the top of the 3rd on a John Son (Mellville, NY/Half Hollow Hills) RBI single before the Cardinals reclaimed the lead in the home half, also with an RBI single. Knabe went on to pitch a clean 4th to keep the team within one run as he departed from the game. 
 
Fisher was able to create some breathing room in the bottom of the 5th with an RBI groundout and a sacrifice fly as Utica's deficit grew to 4-1. May helped close the gap in the 6th on an RBI infield single to shortstop however, another Cardinal home run later in the 8th made it a three-run game again. 
 
Looking to make a comeback, Sclafani delivered a two-out RBI single to center in the 9th to make it a 5-3 ballgame but that would be all. 
 
Utica (23-12, 13-4 Empire 8) and Fisher will complete the three-game set at 1 p.m. on Sunday.