CINCINNATI, OHIO – The Canisius baseball team dropped the series opening doubleheader against Cincinnati on Friday afternoon, as the Blue and Gold dropped a heartbreaker in the bottom of the 10th inning in the first game, falling to the Bearcats 8-7, while the squad lost 6-1 in the second contest. With the loss Canisius is now 3-10 on the season, while Cincinnati is 3-11.

GAME ONE:

The Griffs used a big five-run rally in the top of the eighth inning to take a 7-4 lead headed into the home-half of the inning but the Bearcats' offense tied the game in the bottom of the ninth and used a walk-off home run to steal the first game of the four-game set.

Senior Aaron Casper got the start for the Blue and Gold, pitching three innings, allowing three hits and three earned runs and fanning three in the no-decision. Nolan Hunt relieved Casper and pitched a solid four innings, yielding just two hits and one earned run, however Iannick Remillard came on a struggled through 2.1 innings, allowing four hits and four earned runs to take the loss.

Andrew Zellner got the start for the Bearcats, and pitched 7.1 innings and surrendered four hits and four runs with two earned in the no-decision.

Doug Lowe II came on and pitched 0.1 innings of work and yielded three runs, while A.J. Kullman improved to 1-1, going 2.1 inning and allowing just one hit and striking out two batters in the winning effort.

The Griffs Liam Wilson led the way for the Griffs offense, recording two hits, including a two-RBI single in the fifth-inning rally to lead the team in both hits and RBI with three. Anthony Massicci also had a pair of hits during the game.

For the Bearcats, a trio of players recorded a pair of hits as Manny Rodriguez,  A.J. Bumpass and Treg Haberkorn all led the way with hits. Haberkorn had a pair of RBI, while Ryan Noda's homer proved to be the difference maker in the contest.

GAME TWO:

In the second game the Bearcats held the Canisius offense at bay, allowing just five hits and one run, while notching 10 themselves in the 6-1 victory.

Josh Shepley started the second game for the Blue and Gold and went 6.2 innings, and allowed eight hits, four runs with three earned, and dropped to 1-2 with the loss.

Andrew Sipowicz came on in relief and pitched 1.1 innings, and yielded two hits and two runs both earned and struck out two.

Meanwhile J.T Perez went the distance, pitching nine innings, holding the Griffs to five hits and one earned run and fanned eight batters to improve to 1-1 this season.

Five different Griffs recorded hits in the game with Jake Walter proving to be the only member of the Blue and Gold to record a RBI, the lone run of the game.

R.J. Thompson led the offense for Cincinnati in this game notching three hits and two RBI, Cam Alldred led the team in hits with three.

The Bearcats got off to an early 1-0 lead, notching a run in the bottom of the second, and extended that lead to 4-0 with three runs between the bottom of the fourth and fifth innings.

Canisius got its lone run of the game when Walter sent a long-ball over the outfield fence to make it 4-1 in the top of the eighth, before Cincinnati answered back in the home half of the frame, notching two and winning the contest 6-1.

The Griffs will be back in action tomorrow at 1 p.m., looking for its first win in the series. The series will finish up on Sunday as the two squads meet for the final time with first pitch slated for 1 p.m.