The
Canisius College baseball team lost both games of a doubleheader at Wright
State University on Sunday, falling 2-1 and 4-3. The Golden Griffins fall to
4-10 on the season.
In the opener, Wright
State starter Michael Woytek retired the first 18 Canisius batters on the day
before senior Will Chomicki doubled
to lead off the top of the seventh inning. Freshman Ryan Coppinger moved Chomicki to third and an RBI groundout from
senior Sean Jamieson tied the game
at 1-1. Wright State would come right back to claim the lead in the bottom of
the seventh, getting three straight singles with two outs to take a 2-1 lead.
The
Griffs got three hits in the top of the ninth but ran themselves out of the
game-tying run. With one out, senior Brian
Burton singled to center and a single from freshman Shane Zimmer put runners at first and second. Junior Drew Pettit singled to left, but Burton
was thrown out at the plate and Wright State then got Pettit in a rundown,
tagging him out to end the game.
Redshirt
sophomore Billy Martin made his
first start of the season and took the complete-game loss. Martin (1-1) allowed
four hits and one walk while striking out three in eight innings of work.
In
the second game of the doubleheader, Canisius took a 2-0 lead by scoring two
runs in the top of the sixth. Freshman Jimmy
Luppens led off with a double and Chomicki and Jamieson were each hit by a
pitch to load the bases. Burton singled up the middle to score Luppens and
Chomicki to give Canisius the lead.
Wright
State tied the game with two runs in the bottom of the seventh off redshirt
sophomore Nathan Linseman, who came
into the game in the bottom of the fifth in relief of redshirt senior Chris Cox. Ryan Ashe had a two-out,
two-RBI single for the Raiders to tie the game at 2-2.
The
Griffs took the lead in the top of the ninth as Zimmer drew a leadoff walk.
Pinch runner Chris Gruarin stole
second and moved to third on a groundout by freshman Jose Torralba. With two outs, senior Andrew
Russo then doubled to right to score Gruarin and give Canisius the 3-2
lead. The Raiders scored two runs in the bottom of the ninth by recording just
one hit. After getting a groundout to start the inning, Linseman walked Kyle
Mossbarger with one out. Freshman Jon
Fitzsimmons came into the game and then put the next two runners on base
with a walk and a hit by pitch. Fitzsimmons would get the second out of the
inning on a flyout to left, but it did score a run to tie the game at 3-3. Kody
Krizman then sent a 1-2 pitch to left field for the walk-off single.
Cox
threw 4.2 scoreless innings, allowing four hits, walking two and striking out
five. Linseman allowed three runs in 3.2 innings of relief. Fitzsimmons (0-1)
took the loss, allowing one run in one-third of an inning.
Canisius
starts its Spring Break trip with a four-game series at West Virginia
University next weekend. First pitch for Friday's single game is set for 3 p.m.
