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Canisius University Athletics

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Mark McKenna
Marshal Filipowicz
4
Canisius CAN 1-3
5
Winner West Virginia WVU 2-2
Canisius CAN
1-3
4
Final
5
West Virginia WVU
2-2
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Canisius CAN 0 0 0 0 1 2 0 0 1 4 11 0
West Virginia WVU 0 0 1 1 1 0 0 1 1 5 6 1

W: Kessler, Sam (1-0) L: Burmaster, Jarod (0-1)

Game Recap: Baseball |

West Virginia Hands Baseball Walk-Off Loss, 5-4

Recap:
The Canisius baseball team was defeated, 5-4, as the Golden Griffins saw Tristen Hudson and the West Virginia Mountaineers walk off in the bottom of the ninth inning Tuesday afternoon at Monongalia County Ballpark in Morgantown, W.Va.
 
Senior outfielder Mark McKenna was the leader of the Griffs' offensive output, going 3-5 while driving in the team's first run of the game with a fifth-inning double. Juniors Stephen Bennett and William Krull added two hits each, as Bennett launched a lead-off triple in the ninth that eventually allowed him to tie it late while Krull went 2-3 with two walks.
 
After West Virginia put runners on first and second in the bottom of the first inning, Canisius followed suit in the top of the second. Krull put a one-out single up the middle and redshirt-freshman Cole Hollins then connected for his first hit as a Griff two batters later, but the Griffs could not get either home. Freshman Brett Kochanski had to grind through his debut in the bottom of the second, as the right-hander walked the bases loaded but got Darius Hill to fly out to left field for the end of the inning.
 
The Griffs threatened again in the third when freshman Kyle Kush was hit by a pitch to start the inning and McKenna hit a two-out single to put runners on the corners. Snyder worked out of danger, though, when he induced a Bennett fielder's choice. The bottom half of the inning saw the Mountaineers strike first, as Marquez Inman took freshman Alec Ritzenthaler deep to lead off before Ritzenthaler got three of the next four hitters out.
 
Inning four had Canisius get two baserunners with no outs thanks to Krull and junior Jacob Victor, but the Blue and Gold could not capitalize once again. West Virginia did capitalize however, as Tevin Tucker walked and Brandon White was plunked. Tyler Doanes sacrificed himself to move the runners and Hill grounded out to score Tucker and make it 2-0.
 
Redshirt-freshman Mike Steffan got the Griffs rolling in the fifth with a base-on-balls, and senior Conner Morro doubled immediately after to put two runners in scoring position. McKenna then hit a double into the gap that brought Steffan home for Canisius' first run, but Morro was thrown out at the plate trying to tie it. Two more walks issued by Phillip Dull put Griffs on every base, but Gabe Kurtzhais entered and stranded them with a strikeout. WVU regained the two-run cushion when Ivan Gonzalez crushed a home run with one out in the bottom of the fifth.
 
Junior Noah Thompson reached base via error to start the sixth frame, and a Steffan single scored Thompson following a Kush walk. Morro then hit into a fielder's choice, McKenna singled and Bennett brought Morro home to even the score at 3-3.
 
After junior Carson Perkins limited West Virginia to a single in the bottom of the sixth, junior Jake Burlingame opened the seventh with a double but Canisius hitters then went 1-2-3 via the strikeout.
Freshman David Yankowski made second appearance of 2019, retiring the Mountaineers in order in the bottom of the seventh but ran into trouble during the eighth. With one out, Austin Davis singled off Yankowski before swiping second and third, and Tucker walked to bring up White. The West Virginia centerfielder then laid down a sacrifice bunt to plate Davis for the go-ahead run.
 
The Griffs came back in the ninth when Bennett tripled and Sam Kessler threw a wild pitch to Krull that allowed Bennett to score the tying run. Krull then walked but Canisius could not push across a run to take the lead.
 
Junior Jarod Burmaster entered in the home half of the ninth looking to send the game to extras and got the first out before TJ Lake walked. Paul McIntosh then singled and Gonzalez hit a fly out, bringing Hudson to the plate. Hudson then hit a ground ball to the right side, as Lake came around for the winning run.
 
Burmaster was handed the loss, allowing one run on two hits and one walk. Yankowski finished the day with one run in two innings, giving up one hit and a walk while recording a strikeout. Sophomore Omar Ward and junior Kyle Warner made their first appearances of the season, both allowing one run over inning of work. Ward finished with one walk, one hit-batter and one strikeout. Warner allowed the homer to Gonzalez but struck out the three other batters faced.
 
Both starters both threw shutout performances, as Canisius senior Jared Kennedy threw one inning, giving up two walks and striking out one Mountaineer batter. West Virginia's Nick Snyder lasted 3.1 innings before being taken out, finishing with four hits allowed, one walk and six punchouts.
 
For West Virginia, Kessler was awarded the win, throwing one inning of one-hit ball. Tevin Tucker finished the day with three walks, scoring once, and Doanes went 1-2 with two walks.
 
The loss sends Canisius to 1-3, while West Virginia moves to .500 with a 2-2 record.
 
Head Coach Matt Mazurek's Postgame Comments:
"It was really important to get the young guys an opportunity to go on that mound because everyone is going to have nerves the first time they touch a mound in a collegiate baseball game. Today we had the ability for some guy to go out there and shake those nerves and perform well, and naturally it should help them out moving forward.
 
"I thought offensively we had a little bit more juice in our bats in certain spots, so there were some good takeaways there. I think we need to clean up some things on the bases and offensively to help ourselves out when runner get into scoring position. But the opportunity to play today will be way more beneficial down the road as opposed to staying inside the past two days for practice."
 
Game Notes:
• Tuesday marked the first Canisius start for the designated hitter Thompson, while Kochanski and Ritzenthaler both made their collegiate debuts out of the bullpen.
• Morro extended his hit streak to 10 games, as the shortstop collected a fifth-inning double to maintain his streak that dates back to May 24, 2018 against Niagara.
• Bennett's last triple came on May 6, 2018 at St. Bonaventure.
• McKenna's last multi-hit game was a four-hit performance June 2, 2018 versus Gonzaga.
• May 24, 2018 against Quinnipiac was the last time Krull had multiple hits in a game.
• With his defensive substitution in the fourth, Jake Burlingame has now played 100 career games in the Blue and Gold.
• Tuesday was Kennedy's sixth career start for the Griffs and 35th collegiate appearance.
• The Mountaineers now lead the all-time series, 9-5.
 
Next Series:
Canisius will head back to North Carolina Feb. 22-24, playing a four-game series at UNC Charlotte. The Griffs will take on the 49ers Friday at 3 p.m., before playing a doubleheader Saturday (noon first pitch). The two teams close out the series with a noon start on Sunday.
 
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