The Canisius College baseball team split a doubleheader with Marist College on Saturday afternoon at the Demske Sports Complex. The Golden Griffins won the opener 12-8 and lost the nightcap 13-3. Canisius, which saw its six-game winning streak end in the second game, is now 12-15 overall and 4-1 in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference.

Junior Drew Pettit went 5-for-8 with a home run and two RBI in the two games. Seniors Sean Jamieson and Andrew Russo each had four hits on the day, with Jamieson adding four RBI and three runs scored. Freshman Jose Torralba was 3-for-7 and hit his first career home run.

In game one, Marist (18-6, 3-2 MAAC) built leads of 6-2 and 8-5 in the first half of the game. The Red Foxes scored twice in the top of the first, but the Griffs came right back and tied the game in the bottom of the inning. Freshman Shane Zimmer was hit by a pitch and then Jamieson battled back from down 0-2 in the count and tripled to right center to score Zimmer. Senior Brian Burton followed with a sacrifice fly to tie the game.

Canisius starter Billy Martin allowed a leadoff triple in the third, but then got a comeback groundball to the mound for the first out and then a grounder to third by the next batter. Zach Shank was running on contact on the grounder to third, and the Griffs completed the 5-2-5-3-6 rundown for the second out. The Griffs took a 3-2 lead in the bottom of the inning when Jamieson was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded to force home freshman Ralph Alloco.

Marist scored four runs in the top of the third, batting around in the inning. The Red Foxes battled back from three 0-2 counts in the inning, getting a single and two home runs in those three at-bats to go up 6-3. The Griffs made it 6-4 when sophomore Chris Gruarin scored on a wild pitch in the bottom of the third. The Red Foxes pushed their lead to 8-4 in the top of the fourth, but the Griffs made it 8-5 in the bottom of the fourth on an RBI single from Pettit.

Martin settled down in the fifth for a 1-2-3 inning as the Canisius pitching staff didn't allow a run for the rest of the game. Redshirt sophomore Nathan Linseman got out of a second and third, one-out jam in the sixth by getting two grounders to second to keep it a three-run game. 

Canisius broke through with a six-run bottom of the sixth, taking advantage of two Marist errors and three walks. Marist starter Dan Zlotnick walked Jamieson and Burton to start the sixth before Brett Houseal relieved Zlotnick. Pettit dropped down a perfect bunt in between the pitcher and third baseman to load the bases with nobody out. After Gruarin popped out, Russo had an RBI single through the right side. Pinch hitter Kevin Whitehead drew a bases-loaded walk and freshman Ryan Coppinger beat out a double-play ball to extend the inning and score Pettit to tie the game at 8-8. Torralba followed with an RBI single just past a diving Nick McQuail at second base. The ball then went past Michael Gallic in centerfield, which allowed Coppinger to score as the freshman was running on the pitch. Zimmer extended the inning after reaching on a throwing error, and Jamieson followed with a double down the left-field line to make it 12-8.

Linseman allowed two leadoff singles in the seventh, but got a double-play groundball to stop the rally. The redshirt sophomore pitched a perfect eighth inning and allowed a double and single in the ninth before being lifted for redshirt junior Tim Seil. The righty got a grounder to short to close out the victory for Linseman (2-1) and get his third save of the season.

Marist took control of the second game by scoring seven runs in the top of the second inning, six of them being unearned. The Griffs got a home run from Pettit to lead off the bottom of the second, but Marist pushed its lead to 10-1 with three more runs in the top of the third. The Griffs ran themselves out of a potential rally in the third as senior Nat Barone led off with a single. However, Barone was tagged out at second base on a potential double-play groundball when Shank dropped the throw from McQuail, and Barone overran the base. Coppinger, who reached on the fielder's choice, was then thrown out trying to advance on a wild pitch. Torralba followed with a homer to right off the glove of Ricky Pacione. The Griffs added a run in the seventh on an RBI single from Barone.

Redshirt senior Shane Davis (2-3) took the loss for the Griffs, allowing 10 runs, four earned, in three innings of work. Freshman Jon Fitzsimmons and junior Alex Tufts each threw two innings of relief.

Chad Gallagher (5-0) earned the win for Marist as Gallagher went the distance, allowing three runs and zero walks while striking out five in his seven innings of work.

Canisius and Marist will conclude the three-game series on Sunday, with first pitch at the Demske Sports Complex set for 2 p.m.

Notes: Canisius loses for just the second time in the last 17 games at the Demske Sports Complex... The teams have now split their last six regular-season games... Pettit has raised his season average to .392 after being at .200 after the three-game series at Maryland (March 6)... Burton extended his on-base streak to 26 games... The three-inning start by Davis was the shortest conference start of his career. Davis lost for just the third time in 26 career MAAC regular-season starts... Graurin has scored a run in eight of the last nine games... Linseman has allowed one run in his last 6.1 innings pitched... Russo has a five-game hitting streak, collecting five runs and six RBI in the five games as well... Torralba extended his hitting streak to seven games, raising his average 90 points in the last eight days.