The Canisius College baseball team continued its winning ways in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference, rallying for a 7-6 win in 11 innings in game one and then finishing the sweep with an 8-2 win in game two at the Demske Sports Complex on Saturday. The Golden Griffins improve to 26-14 overall and 10-1 in the MAAC - holding a 2.5-game lead over second-place Marist (9-5 in the MAAC).

Junior Steve McQuail and senior Shayne Willson each had a team-high four hits on the day, with McQuail reaching base in seven of his 10 plate appearances. Sophomore Brad Medici went 3-for-3 with two walks and the walk-off single in the first game.

Senior Chris Cox (3-2) had nine strikeouts in 6.2 innings of work to pick up the game two win. The Canisius bullpen combined to allow one run in 4.1 innings of relief.

The teams played a back-and-forth first game. Rider (19-17, 7-7 MAAC) scored single runs off Canisius starter Shane Davis in the first and third innings. The Griffs tied the game in the fourth when McQuail was hit by a pitch and Brian Burton singled to lead off the inning. Willson doubled to right-center to score both runners and knot the game at 2-2.

The Broncs answered with a run in the top of the fifth while Canisius tied the game on a two-out RBI single from Will Chomicki in the sixth. Rider came right back with a two-run top of the seventh to take a 5-3 lead.

Canisius took its first lead of the day with a three-run eighth inning. Medici and Drew Pettit led off with walks. Chomicki sacrificed the runners to second and third, with an RBI double from Perry Silverman cutting the lead to 5-4. Sean Jamieson tied the game with an RBI groundout, advancing Silverman to third. Ian Choy then singled to right, scoring Silverman to put Canisius up 6-5. McQuail followed with a double down the left-field line, but Choy was thrown out at the plate to end the inning.

Rider tied the game when Steve Galella led off with a double, moved to third on a passed ball and scored on a sacrifice fly.

Canisius got the winning run to second in the ninth, but couldn't score. The Broncs got the go-ahead run to third in the top of the 10^th, but also failed to score.

The next best opportunity for either team came in the bottom of the 11^th when McQuail singled through the left side and moved to second on a sacrifice bunt from Burton. After Willson was intentionally walked, Medici sent the 1-1 pitch up the middle and McQuail beat the throw home to give Canisius the walk-off win.

Willson (1-0) earned his first win of the season by retiring four of the five batters he faced. Redshirt freshman Billy Martin allowed one run in 2.2 innings of relief. Davis allowed five runs on 12 hits, walked zero and struck out five in seven innings of work.

The Griffs never trailed in the second game, scoring a run in the first without a hit. Three of the first four Griffs drew a walk and a sacrifice fly from Brian Burton gave Canisius the 1-0 lead. Canisius broke the game open with a five-run fourth inning - four of the runs scoring with two outs. Burton led off the inning with a homer to left-center - his team-leading 11^th home run of the season. Willson and Pettit followed with singles. After a sacrifice bunt advanced the runners 90 feet, Willson was tagged out at the plate on a grounder from Chomicki as the Rider infield was playing in. Canisius then had three straight two-out hits, getting an RBI single from Silverman, two-RBI double from Jamieson and RBI single from Choy to put Canisius up 6-0.

The Broncs scored single runs in the sixth and seventh off Cox, who had at least two strikeouts in three innings and struck out the side in the sixth.

Canisius and Rider finish the doubleheader on Sunday, with first pitch scheduled for 2 p.m. Check GoGriffs.com for the latest updates on inclement weather in the Western New York area.

Game Notes: Canisius and Rider played extra innings in the first game of the series for the third consecutive season... Silverman threw a runner out at the plate in game two, the fifth assist of the season by a Canisius outfielder and second of the season for Silverman... With the game one win, Canisius improved to 12-1 on the season against a left-handed starter... Canisius is now 32-9 in its last 41 MAAC games played at the Demske Sports Complex... The game one win was the 15^th come-from-behind victory and fifth win in the last at-bat for the Griffs in 2010... Choy extended his hitting streak to 10 games... Silverman has now scored a run in 25 of the last 26 games... Canisius has won six straight conference series at the Demske Sports Complex and 12 of the last 14 MAAC series at home... Cox has 23 strikeouts in his last 17.1 innings pitched... Davis has thrown at least seven innings in four of his last five starts... McQuail has a hit in 30 of the last 33 games.