The Canisius College baseball team split a doubleheader at Marist College on Saturday afternoon. The Golden Griffins took the opener 4-2 and lost the second game 9-0. Canisius is now 27-25 on the season and 12-8 in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference.

Game One - Canisius 4, Marist 2

Canisius got on the scoreboard in the first inning as freshman Mike Krische led off with a double and moved to third on a fly out from sophomore Shane Zimmer. After a four-pitch walk to sophomore Jimmy Luppens, Krische and Luppens executed a double steal to give the Griffs the 1-0 lead. Marist tied the game in the fourth, using two singles to start the inning and then two groundouts that advanced the runners and scored Mike Orefice to tie the score at 1-1.

The Griffs took their second lead of the day in the sixth as sophomore Jesse Kelso led off with a single, moved to second on a sacrifice bunt from Zimmer and advanced to third on a groundout from Luppens. Freshman Connor Panas then scored Kelso with an infield single to short to put Canisius ahead 2-1. The Griffs added two insurance runs in the seventh as junior Chris Gruarin and sophomore Ronnie Bernick each drew walks. A groundout from Krische moved the two runners into scoring position, and Kelso came through with the two-out, two-RBI single to put Canisius up 4-1.

Sophomore Garrett Cortright (6-6) went seven innings, allowing one run on eight hits, walking two and striking out three to pick up his sixth win of the season. Sophomore Jon Fitzsimmons overcame four walks and got the final five outs of the game to pick up his 11^th save of the season.

Game Two - Marist 9, Canisius 0

Marist (24-22, 10-9 MAAC) scored a run in the first and three runs in the second, jumping out to the quick 4-0 lead and never looking back in earning the split with the Griffs. Dan Zlotnick was 2-for-2 with two runs scored and two RBI for the Red Foxes. Orefice and Nick McQuail each had two hits for Marist while Zach Shank added two RBI.

Brett Houseal limited the Griffs to two hits and walked two in seven shutout innings while striking out six on 81 pitches. Freshman Devon Stewart (4-4) took the loss for Canisius in his shortest start as a Golden Griffin. Stewart allowed four runs on seven hits in four innings.

Canisius and Marist wrap up the three-game series on Sunday, with first pitch for the nine-inning game set for noon.

Notes: Canisius improves to 5-2 in the first game of MAAC series this season... The Griffs have been shut out in the second game of the weekend series in three of the last four weekends...  Sophomore Ronnie Bernick had a hit in each game and has a hit in six of his last eight appearances... Cortright has thrown at least six innings in nine of his last 10 starts... Fitzsimmons had five walks in his previous 12 innings. Fitzsimmons also recorded the 12th save of his career, setting the program record... Gruarin has five walks and two HBP in the last four games... The leadoff batter reached in all six innings for Marist in the second game and in 11 of 15 innings on the day.