Collecting
a school-record 24 hits, the Canisius College baseball team reignited its
offense with an 18-7 win at Maryland Eastern Shore on Monday. The Golden
Griffins improve to 17-11 overall and have won seven of their last 11 games.
Junior
Brian Burton went 5-fot-6 with two
home runs, two runs scored and six RBI on the day, ending up a double short of
the cycle. Freshman Josh Lewyckyj
was 4-for-6 while junior Will Chomicki
and senior Perry Silverman each had
three hits as Chomicki reached base in six of his seven plate appearances.
Seniors Ian Choy and Paul Panik each had two RBIs with Panik
hitting his fourth homer of the season.
Canisius
scored in eight of the nine innings on the day, posting multiple runs in seven
frames. The Griffs received RBI singles from Steve McQuail and Burton gave Canisius the 2-0 lead in the first
inning. The Griffs manufactured a run in the second as Silverman was hit by a
pitch with two outs, moved to second on a wild pitch and stole third base. Chomicki
singled to third to score Silverman.
After
a double from McQuail, Burton hit a two-run homer to left. Lewyckyj followed with
a single and Kevin Whitehead doubled
to left-center to put Canisius up 7-1. Burton hit his second two-run homer in
as many innings in the fourth, putting Canisius up 9-1. The Griffs added two
unearned runs in the fifth to push the lead to 11-3. UMES (2-24) scored four in
the bottom of the fifth, cutting the Canisius lead in half to make the score
11-7.
That
would be as close as the Hawks got on the day, as Canisius scored two in the
seventh, three in the eighth and two in the ninth. In the seventh, Chomicki led
off and was hit by a pitch. The junior stole second and third and scored on a
sacrifice fly from sophomore Drew Pettit.
Choy drew a walk, moved to second on a single from Burton and scored on an RBI
single from Lewyckyj. In the eighth,
Choy had a two-RBI double and Burton had an RBI triple. Panik capped off the
second with a two-run homer in the ninth.
Four
Canisius pitchers threw for the Griffs on the day. Freshman Scott Whitehead got the start and
allowed one run in his three innings of work. Freshman Matt Thomas allowed six runs, four earned, in two innings of
relief. Freshman Jordan Cave (1-1)
earned his first collegiate win by throwing 3.1 innings of scoreless relief.
Senior Shayne Willson came in and
got the final two outs of the game.
Canisius
returns home for a mid-week doubleheader against Bucknell on Wednesday. First
pitch is scheduled for 1 p.m. at the Demske Sports Complex.
Game Notes: Canisius
and UMES met for the first time in series history... Canisius has now scored
double-digit runs in each of its last six wins... Silverman committed his first
error since April 9, 2008, against St. Bonaventure, ending a streak of 85
consecutive errorless games... Canisius jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first
inning, scoring in the first inning for the 11th time in the last 12
games... Burton hit two home runs in a game for the second time this season
(March 12 vs. Toledo) and third time in his career... Burton tied the program
record for hits in a game with five... Fourteen position players saw action for
Canisius on the day... The previous school record for hits was 23, set against
Delaware State on March 25, 2008... Frank
Polino and Kevin Whitehead made their first career starts for the Griffs...
Cave hasn't allowed a run in his last three appearances (4.2 innings)... Panik
has four home runs in 49 at-bats this season after coming into the season with
three home runs in 190 career at-bats.
