On a day dominated by pitching, the Canisius College baseball team split a doubleheader with Niagara University at Sal Maglie Stadium Thursday afternoon. The Golden Griffins lost the opener 3-2 in 12 innings and won the nightcap 2-1.
The split by Canisius (39-11, 18-5 MAAC) coupled with Manhattan's sweep of Fairfield means the Golden Griffins need a win on Friday, or a loss by Manhattan, to clinch the No. 1 seed in next week's MAAC Championship in Trenton, N.J.
In the second game, freshman Shane Davis earned his 11th victory of the season with his ninth consecutive complete game. Davis allowed five hits and one unearned run while walking none and striking out four.
The Purple Eagles (22-27, 10-13) took a 1-0 lead in the third inning when Clint Elkins led off with a single and moved to second on a throwing error by Kevin Mahoney. After a sacrifice bunt, Davis got the second out of the inning on a pop out. Niagara would score when Jonny Smith singled with a bunt to score Elkins.
Canisius would get its two runs in the top of the seventh. Kevin Mailloux led off the inning with a double and moved to third on a sacrifice bunt by Mahoney. After an intentional walk to Branson Joseph, the centerfielder would steal second. With the infield in, freshman Brian Burton singled through the left side to score Mailloux and Joseph.
Davis would allow a leadoff single in the bottom of the seventh, but retired the next three batters to close out the win.
In the first game, Niagara took the early lead on an RBI single by Frank Kurnik in the bottom of the first. Canisius would respond in the top of the second when an RBI single from Ryan Asis. The Purple Eagles regained the lead in the bottom of the third when Smith scored on a wild pitch, the second of the inning from Canisius starter Alex MacKenzie.
Canisius would tie the game in the ninth when Mahoney led off with a walk and moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by Asis. Mahoney would come home to tie the game on a fielding error by the first baseman.
Niagara scored the winning run in the 12th when Harrison Harber reached with one out after being hit by a pitch by Matt Weber. Kurnik singled to right, putting runners at first and second. After a walk to Graham Skelhome-Gross loaded the bases, Weber got Elkins to ground out to Mahoney, who threw out Harber at the plate for the second out of the inning. Matt Lucchesi would single to right for the game-winning RBI.
MacKenzie went eight innings, allowing two runs on eight hits. Mark Sikorski pitched three scoreless innings to pick up the win for Niagara.
Canisius and Niagara conclude the three-game series on Friday. First pitch is set for 1 p.m.
Game Notes: The first game of Thursday's doubleheader will air on Time Warner 13 on Friday at 7:30 p.m. and on Saturday at 12 p.m... Canisius won for the seventh time this season by scoring the winning runs in its final at-bat... Canisius dropped to 0-3 in extra innings games this season... The loss in the opener was the first MAAC road loss for the Griffs in 2008... Adam Donato started the first game of the doubleheader, his first start since April 30, against Buffalo... MacKenzie has allowed four earned runs in the last 24 innings, going at least eight innings in each of his last three starts... In the last seven games, the Canisius pitching staff has posed an ERA of 1.81 in 59.2 innings pitched
