FISHKILL, N.Y. – The Canisius baseball team secured the program's second MAAC Championship in the last three years on Saturday afternoon, as the Golden Griffins defeated Siena twice to claim the MAAC's automatic berth into the NCAA Division I Baseball Championship. Canisius (34-28) won five-straight elimination games en route to the championship, highlighted by the Griffs' 11-2 win over the Saints in the final championship contest.

Canisius will learn of its postseason destination and opponent on Monday, May 25, when the NCAA officially announces its Field of 64 teams for the 2015 Division I Baseball Championship on its annual selection show. That will be broadcast live on ESPNU at noon.

Canisius senior Connor Panas was named the 2015 MAAC Baseball Championship Most Valuable Player after he hit .500 with 13 hits, 12 runs batted in and 10 runs scored in the team's six tournament games. Joining Panas on the MAAC All-Tournament Team were fellow Griffs Mike Krische, Jack Massa and J.P. Stevenson.

Canisius forced a final, deciding game with a 10-5 victory in the first game of the day. The Griffs wasted little time getting on the board, as they scored five runs in the first two frames to jump out to an early 5-1 lead. A five-run fourth inning put Canisius up 10-2, which ended up being more than enough run-support for Stevenson, who earned the win as the Griffs' starter after he allowed two runs on six hits while fanning a career-high nine and walking just one. Senior Brandon Bielecki earned the save, his first of the season, after he allowed three runs on seven hits in three innings of work.

Junior Anthony Massicci had three hits in the first game of the day, including a double and a triple, while Panas, junior Brett Siddall and freshman Ryan Stekl all had multi-hit performances in the victory. Siddall had a double, his team-leading 24th of the year, while Stekl scored two runs and drove in two runs for the Blue and Gold.

In the final game, Canisius sophomore Zachary Sloan allowed two runs on four hits to go with six strikeouts and Panas went 3-for-5 with a triple, a run scored and six RBI as Canisius cruised to an 11-2 win to claim the MAAC title. Again, Canisius wasted little time taking the lead, as the Blue and Gold scored twice in the second, once in the third and then pushed four across the plate in the top-half of the fourth to take a stranglehold on the lead. Canisius banged out 12 hits in the final game, with Siddall, Massa and freshman Cyrus Senior all recording multi-hit efforts in the victory.

Game Notes: This marked the third-straight year where Canisius and Siena have played for the MAAC Baseball championship, and Canisius has won two of the three meetings… Panas joins fellow senior Jesse Puscheck as the only MAAC Championship MVPs in program history – Puscheck won the award when Canisius claimed the 2013 MAAC title… To earn the league's title, Canisius played five games in 48 hours and the Griffs ended up eliminating four of the tournament's six teams… The only team Canisius did not eliminate from the tournament this year was Monmouth… After scoring just one run in the loss to Quinnipiac on Thursday in the first round, Canisius closed out the tournament by scoring 46 runs over the next five contests… Since beating Niagara 14-4 back on May 14 at home, Canisius has won eight of its last nine and the team has scored a total of 90 runs in those games… Stevenson made two starts and earned two wins in the tournament this year – the freshman also picked up the win on the bump in Thursday's win over Marist… Canisius is the seventh MAAC program (among active league members) to win multiple MAAC baseball championships.