Box Score The Canisius baseball team completed its series sweep of Manhattan College with a 10-6 victory over the Jaspers at the Demske Sports Complex on Monday afternoon. The Golden Griffins have an eight-game winning streak for the second time this season and improve to 6-0 in the MAAC.
Junior Connor Panas was 2-for-3 with a home run, a walk and three RBI while sophomore Anthony Massicci went 2-for-3 with a walk. Senior Jimmy Luppens was 2-for-3 with a walk while freshman Christ Conley reached base three times (two HBP and a walk). Junior Mike Krische was 2-for-4 with three runs scored and two stolen bases.
Manhattan jumped out to a quick 2-0 lead in the top of the first inning. The Griffs answered in the bottom of the second, taking advantage of two defensive miscues by Manhattan and sending 11 batters to the plate to seize control of the game. Senior Shane Zimmer reached on a leadoff error, and Panas jumped on the first pitch he saw. Panas sent it over the right-field fence for his second homer of the year to tie the game at 2-2. The inning continued as Krische sent a fly ball to left-center, that fell in between the two outfielders and rolled all the way to the wall as Krische advanced to third base. After freshman Christ Conley was hit by a pitch, Massicci singled up the middle to score Krische and give the Griffs the lead. Senior Jose Torralba followed with a double down the left-field line to score both runners and put the Griffs up 5-2. Junior Jesse Puscheck closed out the scoring with a two-run homer into the center-field bullpen, his second homer of the year.
Canisius added a run in the third without a hit as Krische reached on a one-out walk, stole second base, stole third base and scored on a wild pitch to make it 8-2. A sacrifice fly from Panas in the sixth scored the Griffs' ninth run while a sacrifice fly from Luppens gave the Griffs their 10th run.
Junior Devon Stewart went 6.2 innings and allowed eight hits and four runs while striking out two to improve to 3-2 on the season. Junior Brandon Bielecki threw an inning of relief while junior Eric Stolzenburg closed out the game with 1.1 innings of relief.
Canisius returns to the road for its next four games, starting with a mid-week game at Akron on Wednesday. First pitch is set for 3 p.m. at Canal Park, the home of the Akron Rubberducks, the double-AA affiliate of the Cleveland Indians.
Notes: Canisius last opened MAAC play with a 6-0 record in 2010 when the Griffs started 8-0… The Griffs also had an eight-game winning streak from Feb. 23 to March 10… Canisius is 18-7 through 25 games for the second consecutive season… Canisius swept Manhattan for the second consecutive season and has won six straight over the Jaspers for the first time in series history… The Griffs batted around for the 12th time this season… Panas and Puscheck each had five RBI in the series with Puscheck extending his on-base streak to 28 games… Stewart pitched into the seventh inning for the third consecutive start… Canisius scored 10 or more runs for the 11th time and had 10-plus hits for the 18th time.
