Cleveland State scored six runs on one hit in the sixth inning and then added seven insurance runs in the ninth inning to defeat the Canisius College baseball team 15-8 at the Demske Sports Complex on Tuesday afternoon.
Junior Alec Cabello (right) went 3-for-4 to extend his career-long hitting streak to 10 games, which ties for the longest by a Golden Griffin this season. Freshman Brian Burton was 2-for-3 as eight other Golden Griffins recorded at least one hit in the game. Junior Kevin Mailloux had a team-high three RBIs, which included his sixth homerun of the season.
Canisius (22-4) took a 3-0 lead by scoring once in the first and twice in the second. Ian Choy doubled with one out in the first, moved to third on a wild pitch and scored on a groundout by Mailloux. In the second, Burton, Steve McQuail and Cabello had consecutive singles to load the bases with one out. A sacrifice fly by Donato scored Burton. McQuail advanced to third as well and scored on a throwing error by catcher Josh Geric.
Cleveland State (10-12) scored two unearned runs in the fourth as Alex Kerins reached on an error by Cabello, stole second and moved to third on a groundout. Bobby Cash would single home Kerins with two outs and came around to score on a double by John Foco. The Griffs pushed it to 4-2 in the bottom of the inning when Kevin Mahoney led off with a single and scored on a double by Burton.
The Vikings would score six runs in the sixth on one hit, with five of the runs being unearned. With one out, Cash reached on an error by Burton and Canisius starter Josh Sawatzky walked Foco and hit Adam Heideman to load the bases. Aaron Boag relieved Sawatzky and walked the next two batters, which tied the game at 4-4. Chris Cox relieved Boag and got the second out of the inning on a sacrifice fly by Brad Buell. Kerins was hit by a pitch to load the bases and Kyle Bischof followed with a two-run double to make it 7-4. Geric was hit by a pitch to load the bases again and Cash walked to make the score 8-4.
Canisius would get two of the runs back in the bottom of the sixth when Adam Donato doubled and Mailloux sent a fly ball to deep right, which bounced off the glove of Heideman and over the fence to make it 8-6. Canisius got within one in the next inning, which started with Branson Joseph leading off with a single. After a pop out and fly out, pinch hitter Ryan Asis walked and Cabello followed with an RBI single to score Joseph and make it 8-7.
The Vikings broke it open in the ninth with seven runs. Junior Ryan McGorman came into the game with the bases loaded and one out. McGorman struck out Tom Carter for the second out of the inning. However, Buell would follow with a two-run double, Kerins added a two-run single and Geric closed the scoring for the Vikings with a three-run homer to right.
Canisius would load the bases in the ninth and score one, but Foco came into the game and induced a double play to end the game.
Sawatzky (3-1) made his seventh start of the season and went 5.1 innings, his longest outing of the season. The senior allowed three hits, five runs, one earned, walked three and struck out two. Jonathan Sprowls (1-0) got the win for the Vikings, throwing 2.1 innings in relief of Anthony Sambula.
Canisius concludes its five-game homestand against St. Bonaventure on Wednesday. First pitch is set for 3 p.m.
Game Notes: Mailloux matches Branson Joseph for the team lead in home runs... Cabello's 10-game hitting streak matches Donato's 10-game hitting streak from earlier this season as the longest by a Griff this season... McQuail made his first start of the season at second base... Boag made his first appearance since March 25, at Delaware State... Sawatzky has appeared in four of the last six games... Cabello is batting .463 (19-for-41) during his hitting streak... Donato has seven RBIs, seven runs scored and seven hits in the last five games... Sawatzky made his longest appearance since May 25, 2006, against Le Moyne... Prior to Tuesday's game, the most runs allowed by Canisius in an inning was five by Appalachian State March 1.
