The Canisius College baseball team lost 3-2 to Manhattan College at the Demske Sports Complex on Saturday evening. The Golden Griffins fall to 20-20 overall and 7-3 in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference.

After Manhattan (18-19, 9-4 MAAC) used a leadoff double from Anthony Vega to take a 1-0 lead in the top of the first, Canisius responded in the bottom of the second. Leadoff singles up the middle from senior Drew Pettit and sophomore Jimmy Luppens started the rally. After a sacrifice bunt from junior Brooklyn Foster advanced the runners, junior Manny Hernandez scored Pettit with a single through the right side to tie the game. On the next pitch, a perfectly placed drag bunt from sophomore Ryan Coppinger scored Luppens to give Canisius the 2-1 lead. Manhattan came right back in the top of the third with three consecutive two-out hits, tying the game at 2-2 on a single through the left side from Ramon Ortega.

The Griffs had five hits off Manhattan starter John Soldinger in the first two innings, but Soldinger limited the Griffs to one hit for the rest of the game and faced the minimum during the fourth through seventh innings. Manhattan got runners on the corners in the sixth and loaded the bases in the seventh, but Canisius starter Garrett Cortright was able to pitch out of each jam.

After Cortright walked Joe McClennan to start the eighth, pinch hitter Aiden O'Leary moved McClennan to second with a sacrifice bunt. Pinch hitter Vin Teixeira singled up the middle off junior Jason Rubenstein to score McClennan for what proved to be the game-winning run.

Canisius threatened to score off Soldinger in the eighth and ninth. Sophomore Jose Torralba drew a one-out walk in the eighth, moved to second on a grounder but would be stranded in scoring position. Sophomore Shane Zimmer went the other way with the 0-1 pitch, but Manhattan first baseman Kyle Murphy made a diving stop on the sharply hit ball and retired Zimmer for the last out of the inning. In the ninth, Luppens reached on a Manhattan error and Foster battled back from being down 0-2 in the count to draw a one-out walk. After a fielder's choice retired Foster at second and advanced pinch runner Christian Segar to third, Soldinger struck out pinch hitter Connor Panas to end the game.

Cortright (4-5) took the loss, allowing three runs on seven hits while walking three and striking out six on 116 pitches. Soldinger threw his fifth complete game of the season, allowing two runs on six hits, walking three and striking out three on 128 pitches.

Canisius and Manhattan are scheduled to complete the doubleheader on Sunday, with first pitch at the Demske Sports Complex set for noon.

Notes: Manhattan defeats Canisius at the Demske Sports Complex for the second time in the last seven meetings... Canisius falls to 4-11 this season in one-run games... Zimmer has reached base in 45 of the last 46 games... Coppinger now has an RBI in the last six games and also has a six-game hitting streak... Cortright has gone at least six innings in six of his last seven starts... Redshirt junior Nathan Linseman threw a scoreless third of an inning and has allowed one earned run in his last six appearances (4.2 innings)... Canisius allowed two stolen bases in the game after allowing three steals in the previous 17 games... Canisius dropped the series opener of a home conference series for just the third time in the last 13 home MAAC series.