The Canisius baseball team bounced back with a 5-0 win over Fairfield University at the Demske Sports Complex on Friday afternoon. The Golden Griffins conclude the regular season with a 39-15 overall record and 15-9 record in the MAAC.
Canisius will be the No.3 in next week's MAAC Championship (May 23-26 at ARM & HAMMER PARK in Trenton, N.J.). The Golden Griffins will open play against No. 2 seed Marist College in the first round on Thursday. First pitch is set for 3 p.m. Fans will be able to purchase a video broadcast through MAAC.TV or listen to a free, audio broadcast on GoGriffs.com.
Sophomore Devon Stewart (4-5) went seven shutout innings to pick up the win, allowing four hits, walking two and striking out six. Junior Jon Fitzsimmons threw two shutout innings of relief to pick up his 10th save of the season.
Canisius used a two-out RBI single from junior Ryan Coppinger in the third and a two-out, RBI single from senior Brooklyn Foster in the sixth to take a 2-0 lead. The Griffs added a run in the seventh on a sacrifice fly from senior Christian Segar to go up by three runs.
Canisius added two insurance runs in the eighth, with Foster getting hit by a pitch with one out. After a walk to senior Chris Gruarin, an RBI single from Siddall scored Foster, with Gruarin and Foster each taking the extra base on the throw. A sacrifice fly from sophomore Mike Krische put the Griffs up by five runs and closed out the scoring.
Mike Wallace (6-4) took the loss for Fairfield (20-29, 11-13 MAAC), allowing three runs, two earned, in seven innings.
Notes: The 39 wins for the Golden Griffins are the second-highest total in program history, matching the 39 wins from the 2010 team. Canisius won a program-record 41 games in 2008… Canisus shut out an opponent for the sixth time this season… Stewart threw seven shutout innings for the second time this season (March 29 at Iona)… Fitzsimmons didn't strikeout a batter for just the second time in 19 appearances this season… Coppinger was 5-for-10 in the series with two walks and two stolen bases… Segar extended his hitting streak to five games, tied with Coppinger for the longest active hitting streaks on the team.
