Marist built an early 8-1 lead and never looked back as the Canisius College baseball team lost 12-3 at McCann Field in Poughkeepsie, N.Y. on Sunday afternoon. The Golden Griffins fall to 35-18 overall and 17-4 in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference, losing their first conference series of the 2010 season.

Junior Brian Burton led the Griffs by going 3-for-4 with an RBI while senior Shayne Willson and junior Sean Jamieson each had two hits, with Jamieson reaching base in three of his five plate appearances.

Canisius took a quick lead when Jamieson doubled with one out in the first and eventually scored on a two-out, RBI single from Burton. The Red Foxes responded with two in bottom of the first and then broke the game open with a six-run second off Canisius starter Chris Cox. The senior loaded the bases to start the inning by hitting two Marist batters and walking another. After a sacrifice fly made it 3-1, Cox struck out Jon Schwind for the second out of the inning. Bryce Nugent followed with a two-out, two-RBI single to put Marist up four. A double from Michael Gallic and walk to Ryan Gauck re-loaded the bases and Zach Shank cleared the bases with a double as Marist took advantage of three walks and two hit batters in the inning to score the six runs on three hits.

Marist starter Chad Gallagher (5-2) held the Canisius offense in check as Gallagher went 7.1 innings, allowed three runs on 11 hits and struck out four to earn the victory.

Cox (4-3) took the loss by allowing eight runs on five hits in two innings, walking five and striking out two. Four Canisius relievers saw action in the game - freshmen Matt Thomas, Scott Whitehead and Jordan as well as redshirt senior Andrew Van'tWout.

Canisius concludes its 2010 regular season at Sal Maglie Stadium against rival Niagara. The three-game series starts Thursday with first pitch for the doubleheader set for 12 p.m.

Game Notes: The series loss is the first time Canisius has dropped two games in a conference weekend since losing two of three at Manhattan April 25-26, 2009, ending a streak of nine straight series wins by the Griffs... Marist takes the regular-season series from Canisius for the second consecutive season, the only MAAC team to win two series from Canisius in the past three seasons... Whitehead a scoreless seventh inning, his first appearance since April 10, at Saint Peter's... Canisius lost for just the second time this season when facing a left-handed starting pitcher and is now 16-2 against southpaws.