Game One Box Score
Game Two Box Score
The Canisius College baseball team used solid pitching against Long Island and productive hitting against St. Bonaventure to sweep its opening two games of the season on Saturday in Gastonia, N.C. The Griffs defeated Long Island 7-3 and defeated St. Bonaventure 11-8 in the nightcap. Canisius starts the season 2-0 for the first time since 1999.
Canisius rallied from a 3-1 deficit against the Bonnies by scoring eight runs in the fifth inning. Senior Adam Donato went 3-for-4 with two doubles, a homerun, three RBIs and three runs scored while sophomore Ian Choy was 3-for-4 with an RBI. Junior Kevin Mahoney went 2-for-4 with a homerun, RBI and two runs scored. Junior Branson Joseph was 1-for-2 with a double and run scored while Paul Panik added an RBI double.
Sophomore Mike Goemans went five innings for the win while Ryan McGorman went four innings to pick up the save.
In the win against Long Island, Canisius got four hits from junior Kevin Mailloux, three RBIs from freshman Brian Burton and a strong pitching performance by Alex MacKenzie to defeat the Blackbirds.
MacKenzie pitched into the eighth inning, allowing two earned runs and four hits while walking one and striking out six. Matt Weber relieved MacKenzie in the eighth and closed out the game for his second career save.
Mailloux went 4-for-5 with two runs scored while Burton went 3-for-5 with three RBIs. Senior Ryan Asis and juniors Alex Cabello and Brian Gibbs each added an RBI single for the Griffs.
The Griffs took the lead with two runs in the fourth and added another in the fifth. Long Island cut into the lead with a solo home run in the seventh and tacked on another run in the eighth. Cansius scored four times in the ninth inning, a rally that started with the bases empty and two outs.
“We had a great opening day. We got an outstanding starting pitching performance from Alex and our defense played flawlessly in the first game,” Canisius coach Mike McRae said. “Down in the second game, we broke that game open with the big inning and then hung on to complete a successful day.”
Canisius will play Long Island in two seven-inning games on Sunday. First pitch of the opening game is set for 11 a.m.
