The
Canisius College baseball team defeated St. Bonaventure University 4-3 at Fred
Handler Park in Olean, N.Y. on Tuesday afternoon. With their fourth win in the
last six games, the Golden Griffins improve to 12-13 on the season.
Canisius
scored three runs in the top of the first inning, all coming with two outs.
After junior Manny Hernandez had a
one-out single, sophomore Shane Zimmer
replaced him at first base after a fielder's choice. Sophomore Jose Torralba followed with an RBI
double to score Zimmer. After freshman Connor
Panas singled to shortstop, sophomore Jimmy
Luppens hit a two-RBI triple to make it 3-0. The Griffs added their fourth,
and final, run of the day in the fourth inning on a solo homer from Luppens.
Freshman
Rohn Pierce pitched into the seventh
inning, only allowing three baserunners in his first six innings of work. The
Bonnies mounted a rally in the seventh, using an RBI single from Ryan Skellie
and a two-RBI double from Michael Meredith that made it 4-3 and ended Pierce's day.
Freshman Eric Stolzenburg came into
the game and got Eric Jutca to ground out to first to end the inning.
Four
Canisius relievers combined to throw 2.1 scoreless innings of relief, including
sophomore Jon Fitzsimmons who got
the final four outs of the game to record his sixth save of the season. Pierce
(1-1) picked up his first career win, allowing three runs on six hits, walking
one and striking out five in 6.2 innings.
Canisius
returns to the Demske Sports Complex for the first of six straight home games
on Wednesday, with first pitch against the University at Buffalo set for 4 p.m.
Notes: With the win, Canisius snapped a seven-game losing streak in one-run games... Of the 20 hits for Luppens this season, six are of the extra-base variety. He has a .660 slugging percentage in 2012... Freshman Jesse Puscheck
started at designated hitter and had the first multi-hit game of his career...
Fitzsimmons now has 14 strikeouts in 10 innings pitched this season and is
averaging 12.6 strikeouts per nine innings... Junior Chris Gruarin batted in the leadoff spot for the fourth time in his
career and first time since May 4, 2011, at Le Moyne... In his last eight starts,
Hernandez is 13-for-29 with six runs scored... Panas extended his hitting streak
to six games... The 6.2 innings pitched are a career high for Pierce... Torralba
made his first career appearance at the No. 4 spot in the order... Zimmer
extended his consecutive games streak of reaching base to 32 games. The
sophomore also made his first start of the season in the outfield.
