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John Conti is shown batting in game action at the Demske Sports Complex
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7
Winner Canisius CAN 34-20
4
Monmouth MON 29-24
Winner
Canisius CAN
34-20
7
Final
4
Monmouth MON
29-24
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Canisius CAN 1 0 0 0 2 0 0 4 0 7 14 3
Monmouth MON 1 0 2 0 0 0 1 0 0 4 7 1

W: Smith, Tyler (2-3) L: Counsellor (4-3)

Game Recap: Baseball |

Baseball Moves on to Championship Round with Win Over Monmouth

GAME RECAP
Canisius senior John Conti's single up the middle with two outs in the eighth drove in two runs to break a 4-4 tie and fellow senior Tyler Smith threw 2.1 innings of scoreless relief to earn the win on the hill, as the Canisius baseball team came from behind to defeat top-seeded Monmouth 7-4 Friday afternoon in a winner's bracket game in the 2018 MAAC Baseball Championship in Staten Island, N.Y.
 
With the win, the Golden Griffins (34-20) advance to the 2018 MAAC Baseball Championship round on Saturday. Canisius is now just one win away from securing the 2018 MAAC Baseball Championship crown, and the conference's automatic berth into the 2018 NCAA Division I Baseball Championship. The appearance in the MAAC Championship round for Canisius is the program's seventh in the last 10 years, and first since the team won the 2015 conference title.
 
Monmouth (29-24) took a 4-3 lead in the bottom of the seventh after Pete Papcun dropped a blooper between three Canisius fielders in shallow right center. The Griffs answered however, in the eighth, scoring all four of their runs in the decisive frame with two strikes.
 
With one out and the bases loaded, junior Canice Ejoh tied the game at 4-4 with a sacrifice-fly to left that allowed senior Ryan Stekl to score from third base. Conti followed moments later with a base knock back through the box that pushed juniors Conner Morro and Joe Preziuso across the dish to give Canisius a 6-4 advantage, the team's first lead of the game. With senior Christ Conley in the batter's box, Conti stole second base, and then came around to make the score 7-4 in favor of the Blue and Gold after Conley ripped a base hit of his own back through the middle.
 
Monmouth threatened in the bottom-half of the eighth with runners at second and third and two outs, but Smith, the 2018 MAAC Relief Pitcher of the Year, kept the Hawks off the scoreboard when he fanned Danny Long to end the danger. In the ninth, Smith induced two ground-outs and then got Papcun to fly-out to center to seal the victory.
 
Canisius scored the game's first run in the top of the first thanks to an RBI-triple by junior Mark McKenna, but the Hawks answered with run in the bottom of the frame to tie the contest at 1-1. In the third, Monmouth took a 3-1 lead thanks to a two-run homer down the right field line off the bat of Shaine Hughes. The score would remain 3-1 in favor of the Hawks until the fifth, where Canisius scored twice to knot the game at 3-3. In that inning, Stekl's RBI single to left field pushed Conley across the dish to make it 3-2. The Blue and Gold would then tie the game on a double-steal that saw McKenna steal home and Stekl steal second base. The stolen base for McKenna was his 12th of the season, and his first since May 4.
 
McKenna, who matched a career-high with four hits in Thursday's win over Quinnipiac, went 3-for-5 with a triple, an RBI, a run scored and a stolen base, while Conley and Stekl both went 2-for-4 with a double and a run batted in. Conley scored twice for the Griffs as well. Morro and Ejoh added two hits to the winning effort for Canisius, as the team pounded out 14 hits on the day.
 
Smith earned the win, his second of the season, after he allowed just two hits and fanned three in 2.1 innings of work. Canisius junior Andrew Kneussle tossed 6.2 innings as the starter for the Griffs, where he allowed four runs, three earned, on five hits to go with two strikeouts and three walks. Monmouth's Austin Counsellor took the loss on the mound for the Hawks after he allowed four runs, all unearned, in 0.2 innings of relief work.
 
GAME NOTES
• Friday's game was the 13th all-time meeting between Canisius and Monmouth, and it was the first in the MAAC Baseball Championship. The Griffs lead the all-time series 8-5.
• The Griffs' victory is the team's seventh straight, dating back to May 13. That stands as the team's longest win streak since the Blue and Gold won nine in a row from April 16-29, 2016.
• Canisius has now advanced to the MAAC Baseball Championship round in 2009, 2010, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015 and 2018.
• The Griffs have now won three or more games in a MAAC Baseball Championship event four times in program history.
• Six of Canisius' seven runs on Friday came with two outs.
• Thirteen of the Griffs' 23 total runs in this tournament have come in the seventh inning or later.
• The win in relief for Smith is the senior's first career postseason victory.
• McKenna leads Canisius with nine hits this postseason. He's also driven in multiple runs in all three MAAC Tournament games this week.
• Stekl has recorded two hits in each of the team's last three games and he now has multiple hits in 17 contests this year.
• Conley has now reached base safely in 16-straight games, and Conti extended his streak of reaching base to 13-straight.

UP NEXT
Canisius will play for the MAAC Championship at noon on Saturday, May 26th. The game will be televised live on ESPN+. Canisius' opponent will be decided by the results of Game 9 of the Tournament between No. 1 Monmouth and No. 2 Quinnipiac scheduled for 8:35 p.m. Friday night.



 
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