NIAGARA FALLS, N.Y. - After
allowing 19 runs in the opener, Canisius scored 22 runs in the second game as
the Golden Griffins split a doubleheader with rival Niagara University on
Thursday, losing the first game 19-12 and winning the nightcap 22-3 at Sal
Maglie Stadium on Thursday afternoon. Canisius is now 36-19 on the season and
18-5 in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference.
Junior
Brian Burton was 4-for-6 with four
runs scored, a homer and six RBI on the day, reaching base in seven of nine plate appearances, while classmate Steve McQuail was 6-for-8 with five runs scored and is now batting
.410 on the season and .500 in MAAC play. Senior Shayne
Willson was 3-for-6 with a grand slam and seven RBI and junior Will Chomicki had three hits in the second game, reaching base in seven of 10 plate appearances.
In the second game, the
Griffs scored in the first inning when Perry
Silverman and Sean Jamieson
walked and McQuail singled to right to load the bases. Burton then drew a
bases-loaded walk. Canisius made it 2-0 in the third when Jamieson led off with
a single, moved to second on a sacrifice bunt and scored on an RBI single from
McQuail.
The
Grifs broke open the game with a seven-run fifth, scoring the seven runs on
just two hits as Niagara committed two errors, hit one batter and walked three
batters. Burton had a two-RBI double, Ian
Choy had an RBI groundout, Chomicki drew a bases-loaded walk and Silverman reached on a pop-up that
dropped in the infield, allowing two runs to score.
Canisius
sent a season-high 17 batters to the plate in the sixth, scoring 12 runs on 10
hits, highlighted by a grand slam from Willson. Panik also had a two-RBI double
while Mike Deuschle and Chomicki
each had RBI singles.
Davis
improved to 8-3 on the season by allowing one run on six hits, walking two and
striking out two in five innings of work. Sophomore Ryan Fennell and freshman Matt
Thomas each threw an innings of relief.
In
the first game, Canisius took an early 2-0 lead in the first on a two-out,
two-RBI single from Burton that hit off the infield lip. Niagara (17-35, 13-10
MAAC) then broke the game open early, scoring 11 runs in the second inning as
the first 11 batters reached off Canisius starter Mike Goemans. The Griffs battled their way back into the game as
Burton had a two-run homer in the third while a solo homer from Jamieson
and a two-RBI single from Shayne Willson
in the fifth to make it 11-7.
The
Purple Eagles answered those three runs from the Griffs with three runs of
their own in the bottom of the inning and never let Canisius get back into the
game the rest of the way.
Canisius
and Niagara end the three-game series on Friday, with first pitch set for 1
p.m.
Game Notes: With
the first game loss, Canisius dropped three of four for the second time
this season... Davis improves to 18-2 in 24 MAAC starts... Goemans made the
shortest start of his career, with the previous shortest start being a
three-inning start on two previous occasions, most recently against Oakland on
Feb. 27, 2009... Canisius hasn't had a three-game losing streak all season... The
top of the sixth in the second game took 33 minutes... Canisius scored 20 runs in a game for the
fifth time this season... Canisius has now won 12 of the last 15 meetings with
Niagara... Fourteen Canisius batters got an at-bat in the second game... Willson's
grand slam was the 11th of the season by a Canisius batter and third of the
season for the senior, who is 3-for-10 with the bases loaded and all three hits
are grand slams... McQuail has 84 hits on the season and is two hits away from
tying Kevin Mailloux's program record of 86 from last season.
