The
Canisius College baseball team scored in five consecutive innings, saw eight
players produce 10 hits and used seven pitchers in a 10-1 victory over St.
Bonaventure at the Demske Sports Complex on Tuesday afternoon. The Golden
Griffins improve to 24-23 on the season.
Freshman
Mike Booth was 2-for-4 with a
career-high three RBI while sophomore Ryan
Coppinger went 2-for-3, including two doubles, with a run scored and an
RBI. Freshman Connor Panas recorded a
team-high three runs scored while freshman Mike
Krische had a two-run triple.
Canisius
scored a single run in three straight innings, starting in the second as junior
Manny Hernandez led off the inning
with a single up the middle. After a sacrifice bunt from Booth, Coppinger
followed with a ground-rule double to the gap in right-center to score
Hernandez. In the third, Panas doubled down the left-field line and the inning
appeared to be over when sophomore Jose
Torralba sent a pop-up just in front of the pitcher's mound. No St.
Bonaventure fielder called for the ball, and it fell between three defenders,
allowing Panas to score from second. Canisius added another run in the fourth
as Coppinger doubled to right-center and eventually scored when the ball got
away from the St. Bonaventure catcher on ball four to sophomore Shane
Zimmer.
The
Griffs extended the lead in the fifth as Panas and Torralba drew leadoff walks.
After a sacrifice bunt from Hernandez, Booth sent a ball through the left side
for a two-RBI single and gave Canisius the 5-0 lead. The Griffs broke the game
open with a five-run bottom of the sixth inning, which started on a throwing
error after a grounder to third from sophomore Jimmy Luppens to lead off the inning. Zimmer drew a walk, and
senior Drew Pettit singled through
the left side, scoring Luppens who was running on the pitch from second. After a walk to
Panas loaded the bases, Torralba scored Zimmer with a sacrifice fly to left.
Booth then singled up the middle to make it 8-0, and a pinch-hit triple to gap
in left-center from Krische capped the Canisius scoring at 10-0.
Seven
Canisius pitchers combined on the one-run effort. Junior Jason Rubenstein made his first start at Canisius and earned his
first win as a Golden Griffin. Rubenstein (1-0) allowed two hits and one walk in his
three innings. Freshman Rohn Pierce
threw three scoreless innings as well out of the bullpen.
Canisius
wraps up its home schedule this weekend with a three-game series against Iona
College. The teams will begin the series with a single, nine-inning game on
Friday, with first pitch set for 3 p.m. at the Demske Sports Complex.
Notes: Tuesday's
game will be aired on tape delay on Time Warner SportsNet in Western New York
on Wednesday at 8 p.m., Thursday at 6 p.m. and Friday at 7 p.m... Pierce hasn't
allowed a run in his last seven relief appearances (14.1 innings)... Luppens
extended his hitting streak to six games (9-for-20)... Sophomore Jesse Kelso made his first career start
in center field. Kelso also batted in the leadoff spot for the first time at Canisius... Torralba did not bat in the leadoff spot of the order for the
first time in the last 21 games (March 28 vs. Buffalo)... Canisius has outscored
St. Bonaventure 68-29 in the last five games between the teams at the Demske
Sports Complex... Canisius has won 10 of the last 14 from the Bonnies... Booth
doubled his RBI total on the season, coming into the game with three RBI in his
previous 40 at-bats... Freshman Aaron
Casper threw a scoreless inning of relief and has not allowed a run in his
four relief appearances (6.2 innings)... Coppinger had his fifth multi-hit game
in his last nine starts, raising his average 98 points since April 14... Panas
has an on-base percentage of .650 in the last six games... Pettit is hitting .412
(7-for-17) during his five-game hitting streak... Zimmer had two more walks,
extending his single-season total to 46 free passes on the season.
