Getting the second complete game of the season from junior Garrett Cortright and producing 21 baserunners, the Canisius baseball team defeated Iona College 5-2 at City Park on Thursday afternoon. Canisius improves to 17-7 overall and 2-2 in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference.
Senior Christian Segar was 4-for-4 with a walk, two runs scored and three stolen bases. Freshman Brett Siddall went 2-for-5 while senior Chris Gruarin was 2-for-3 with a run scored Junior Jimmy Luppens was 1-for-3 with two walks and two RBI and sophomore Jesse Puscheck drew two walks.
Iona (3-21, 0-4 MAAC) took the lead by scoring a run in the bottom of the first, and the Griffs tied the game in the top of the third. Canisius loaded the bases for the second time on the day and after leaving the bases loaded to end the first. Segar led off with a single and walks to Luppens and Gruarin with no outs loaded the bases. Canisius could only score one run as an RBI groundout from senior Brooklyn Foster knotted the score at 1-1.
The Gaels reclaimed the lead in the bottom of the inning before the Griffs took their first lead of the day by scoring two runs in the top of the fifth. Segar led off with a single and scored on an RBI double from Luppens. After a single from Gruarin put runners at the corners, Luppens was thrown out at the plate on a grounder back to the pitcher from Foster. Siddall singled to load the bases and Puscheck scored Gruarin on a sacrifice fly.
The Griffs added two insurance runs in the eighth, loading the bases for the third time in the game. Junior Jose Torralba led off with a single and stole second base. Junior Ronnie Bernick worked a walk and a passed ball allowed Torralba to advance to third base. A walk to Krische loaded the bases, with an infield single from Segar scoring Torralba. An RBI groundout from Luppens put the Griffs ahead 5-2.
That would be more than enough support for Cortright, who recorded 13 ground-ball outs on the day. The junior threw his second complete game of the season, allowing two runs on seven hits, walking one and striking out three. Cortright (6-1) only allowed two baserunners during the final six innings and retired 13 consecutive Iona batters at one point.
Canisius and Iona will conclude the three-game series on Friday, with first pitch for the doubleheader in New Rochelle set for noon.
Game Notes: The leadoff batter reached seven times in the game after reaching five times in the previous four games combined… The Griffs had double-digit hits for the 11th time in the last 16 games… Canisius had seven steals in a game for the third time this season. Cortright allowed two or fewer earned runs for the eighth time in his last nine starts… Segar has 10 hits in his last three starts… Krische extended his hitting streak to seven games and is 5-for-12 in MAAC play… Canisius left 13 runners on base, the third straight game the Griffs have left double-digit runners on base… The nine walks drawn by the Canisius offense match a season high (March 8 at Longwood). The Griffs have worked 20 walks in the last three games.
