A walk-off RBI double from Steve Galella gave Rider University a 3-2 win over
the Canisius College baseball team on Sunday afternoon. The Golden Griffins
drop two of three games in the weekend series to the Broncs and are now 19-23
overall and 7-6 in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference.
Canisius
got on the board in the top of the first as sophomore Chris Gruarin reached on an error to lead off the game for the
second consecutive game. After a sacrifice bunt from freshman Jose Torralba, senior Sean Jamieson followed with an RBI
double to give Canisius the early 1-0 lead. A solo homer from senior Andrew Russo to lead off the fourth
inning put Canisius up 2-0.
The
Broncs tied the game at 2-2 in the fifth as John Ralston led off with a single Mike
O'Reilly walked to put two on with no outs. After a sacrifice bunt from Galella
moved the two runners into scoring position, each runner advanced 90 more feet as
Ralston scored on a balk by Canisius starter Garrett Cortright. Brandon Cotton hit a sacrifice fly to right to
score O'Reilly and even the game.
Canisius
hit into double plays in the third, sixth and eighth innings and also left
runners in scoring position in the seventh and ninth position as the Griffs
left 11 batters on base during the game. The Broncs won the game in the bottom
of the ninth as Ralston and Ian Lindsay each drew a one-out walk from redshirt
sophomore Jordan Cave. Senior Josh Marshall came on in relief of Cave, and Galella followed with a double down the left-field line to score Ralston
and give the Broncs the walk-off win.
Cortright
went five innings, allowing two runs on three hits, walking two and striking
out three. Cave (0-1) didn't allow a hit in his 3.1 innings of relief, but had
three walks, including two in the ninth, with the first walk proving to be the
game-winning run as Cave took the loss.
Canisius
plays a non-conference game at Le Moyne on Wednesday. First pitch in Syracuse
is set for 4 p.m.
Notes: Canisius
drops to 4-11 in one-run games this season, including losing six straight games and 11 of
the last 12 one-run contests after winning the first three one-run games of the season. Those
three wins came in the first eight games... The 3.1 innings were the longest
outing of the season for Cave and longest since the Cheektowaga native went 3.2 innings against St. Bonaventure on April 27, 2010... Canisius lost a series to Rider for the first
time since the 2006 season... Canisius lost for just the third time this season
(14-3 overall) when recording more hits than its opponent... The run scored by
the Broncs in the ninth was just the seventh allowed by the Griffs in the ninth inning this season... Canisius committed two errors on the day after committing three in
the previous 11 games combined...
Torralba went 7-for-9 in
the three-game series while Jamieson was 4-for-7 with four walks and redshirt
sophomore Jarred Flock reached base
in six of nine plate appearances with three stolen bases.
