Baseball Travels to West Virginia for Midweek Contest

Canisius at West Virginia
Date: Tuesday, Feb. 18
Time: 2 p.m.
Live Stats: StatBroadcast
Live Video: MountaineerTV
Location: Monongalia County Ballpark |Morgantown, W.Va.

Twitter: @GriffsBaseball l #Griffs |#MAACBaseball

The Canisius baseball team continues the 2020 season on Tuesday with its now-annual trip to the Mountaineer State to take on West Virginia. The first midweek game of the campaign for either team will serve as the home opener for the Mountaineers.

Scouting Canisius
• The Golden Griffins opened the 2020 season by going 1-3 in a neutral-site series with UMass Lowell, as the River Hawks bookended the series with a pair of wins, while the two teams split Saturday's doubleheader in Holly Springs, N.C.
• Seniors Jake Burlingame and Andy Leader powered a Canisius offense that put up 34 runs over the four-game series. Burlingame smashed two homers en route to a 7-for-17 weekend that also saw the Preseason All-MAAC selection score eight times and snag four stolen bases. Leader found a spot atop the Canisius order, racking up team highs with eight hits and eight RBI, legging out a pair of triples in the process.
• Redshirt-junior Gibson Krzeminski got in the action as well, sending three of his four hits for extra bases and walking six times.
• Senior Kyle Warner and sophomore Andrew Fron both made impressive starts on Saturday, as Warner earned the win after going six innings and fanning four hitters for a quality start. Fron pitched five shutout innings and allowed just two hits, also matching his career high with seven strikeouts.

Scouting West Virginia
• The Mountaineers took two of three at Jacksonville to record the series win, as WVU shut out its host on Friday and dropped Saturday's contest before pulling out a 2-1 win on Sunday.
• Braden Zarbnisky leads the Mountaineers with six hits so far this season, also racking up two RBI and a stolen base. Tevin Tucker leads the team with three steals, while Austin Davis has tallied three hits, two RBI and two stolen bases.
• Preseason All-Big 12 Team picks Tyler Doanes and Paul McIntosh both made contributions as well, with Doanes registering three hits and McIntosh notching a double.
• Zarbnisky also earned the save in both wins, recording 1.2 innings pitched and fanning three.
• Jackson Wolf spun a gem on Friday, allowing one hit and striking out eight over seven scoreless innings to get his first win of the season. Jake Carr picked up the other win after giving up one run and three hits across five innings on Sunday.

Series History and Notes
• The all-time series between the sits at 9-5 in favor of the Mountaineers, with WVU on a two-game win streak over the Griffs.
• The two teams met at the same exact point in the season last year, as West Virginia walked off in the ninth inning for a 5-4 win over Canisius on Feb. 19, 2019.
• That game saw the Blue and Gold use eight pitchers, while then-junior Stephen Bennett recorded two hits, including a triple.
• Krzeminski spent his true freshman season redshirting for the Mountaineers before transferring to Iowa Western for the 2018 and 2019 seasons.

Up Next
• Canisius continues its season-opening road swing at Winthrop, taking on the Eagles for four games Feb. 21-23 in Rock Hill, S.C.

Follow the Griffs
• For complete coverage of Canisius baseball, please follow the Griffs on social media at @GriffsBaseball (Twitter, Facebook, Instagram).

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Players Mentioned

#30 Stephen Bennett: 3B; 6' 0"; Senior; R/R

#2 Jake Burlingame: OF; 5' 10"; Senior; L/R

#32 Andrew Fron: RHP; 6' 3"; Sophomore; R/R

#18 Andy Leader: OF; 6' 1"; Senior; R/R

#21 Kyle Warner: LHP; 6' 0"; Senior; R/L

#31 Gibson Krzeminski: OF/3B; 5' 11"; Redshirt Junior; S/R

Players Mentioned

#30 Stephen Bennett
: 6' 0"; Senior; R/R
: 3B

#2 Jake Burlingame
: 5' 10"; Senior; L/R
: OF

#32 Andrew Fron
: 6' 3"; Sophomore; R/R
: RHP

#18 Andy Leader
: 6' 1"; Senior; R/R
: OF

#21 Kyle Warner
: 6' 0"; Senior; R/L
: LHP

#31 Gibson Krzeminski
: 5' 11"; Redshirt Junior; S/R
: OF/3B