The Canisius College baseball team scored three runs in the bottom of the first and never gave up the lead en route to a 12-2 win over Saint Peter's College at the Demske Sports Complex on Saturday. The Golden Griffins improve to 15-18 overall and 5-2 in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference.

Freshman Shane Zimmer and senior Andrew Russo each had two-hit games while freshman Ryan Coppinger reached base in two of his four plate appearances and led the Griffs with three RBI. Eight Golden Griffins recorded the 10 hits on the day and all 11 Golden Griffins who had at least one plate appearance reached base.

Redshirt sophomore Billy Martin went eight innings, allowing two runs, walking two and striking out three to improve to 4-1 on the season. Senior Josh Marshall struck out all three batters he faced in the ninth.

Canisius took a 3-0 lead in the bottom of the first, using just one hit and taking advantage of two Saint Peter's errors. Freshman Jose Torralba led off with a walk and moved to second on a wild pitch. Sophomore Chris Gruarin laid a sacrifice bunt down the first-base line, but the throw from Saint Peter's pitcher Dom Macaluso went over the first baseman's head and out of play, allowing Torralba to score and putting Gruarin on second base. Senior Sean Jamieson dropped a bunt down the third-base line and beat it out to put runners at the corners. Senior Brian Burton followed with a grounder into the hole on the left side with the throw from the shortstop attempting to get Jamieson out at second going into right field. The error allowed Gruarin to score and Jamieson to move to third. Junior Drew Pettit brought Jamieson home with a grounder and gave Canisius the 3-0 lead.

Saint Peter's (10-19, 2-5 MAAC) added single runs in the third and fourth. The Peacocks had already scored one run in the third and had the bases loaded with one out, but Martin got a grounder to Pettit who turned the 5-3 double play to end the rally. The Peacocks added a run in the fourth on a solo homer to left-center from Chris Grimes to lead off the inning and make it 3-2.

Canisius gained some cushion in the bottom of the fourth as Burton and Pettit led off the inning with walks. With the runners going on the 3-2 pitch, Zimmer singled up the middle to score Burton and put runners at the corners. Russo beat out a bunt single that scored Pettit and made the score 5-2. After a sacrifice bunt from Kevin Whitehead, Coppinger went the opposite way and sent the ball inside the third-base bag that went all the way down the left-field line for a two-RBI double and put Canisius up 7-2.

Saint Peter's got two two-out singles in the top of the fifth, and Grimes sent a grounder up the middle that looked like it would score a run. Torralba, who made eight straight outs (six assists and two putout) at one point, made a diving stop to knock it down and throw out Grimes by half a step.

The Griffs added a run in the bottom of the sixth as they had runners at the corner with one out. Coppinger dropped down a bunt and the first baseman threw home, but pinch runner Nat Barone beat the throw to put Canisius ahead 8-2. The Griffs added another run in the seventh on an RBI single from Barone. Canisius put three more runs on the board in the eighth as walks to freshman Ralph Alloco and Coppinger and a hit by pitch to Gruarin loaded the bases. After Jamieson drew a bases-loaded walk to force home a run, pinch-hitter Ronnie Bernick doubled to center to give Canisius the 12-2 lead.

Canisius and Saint Peter's will play a doubleheader on Sunday. First pitch is set for 2 p.m. The schedule was adjusted due to inclement weather in the Buffalo area on Saturday.

Notes: Canisius has won nine of its last 13 games... The Griffs snapped a three-game home losing streak with the win... Canisius has now won 13 of the last 14 against Saint Peter's... Burton extended his consecutive games streak of reaching base to 32 games... Jamieson and Burton extended their hitting streaks to five games, the longest active streaks on the team... In his six starts, Martin is 3-1 with a 3.72 ERA. The righty has gone at least seven innings in five of those six starts... Five of the seven walks issued by Saint Peter's pitching came around to score for the Griffs... Canisius improved to 11-1 when scoring seven or more runs... Canisius is now 20-4 in its last 24 home MAAC games.