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Canisius University Athletics

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Mike Steffan steps on home plate against Rider
Lindy Feider
15
Winner Canisius CAN 2-2
7
Pitt UP 2-2
Winner
Canisius CAN
2-2
15
Final
7
Pitt UP
2-2
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Canisius CAN 0 0 3 2 5 2 2 0 1 15 15 0
Pitt UP 3 0 0 1 0 1 0 2 0 7 9 2

W: Consigli, Peyton (1-0) L: Ben Dragani (0-1)

Game Recap: Baseball |

Five-Run Fifth Lifts Baseball Over Pittsburgh

Canisius scored multiple runs in five consecutive innings, aiding the Golden Griffins to a 15-7 victory over Pitt in the series finale Sunday at the Snowbird Classic, held at Centennial Park in Port Charlotte, Fla.
 
Graduate student Mike Steffan went 4-for-6, driving in five runs in the victory. Steffan was one of four Canisius players to record multi-RBI performances, joined by sophomore Max Grant (3), fellow sophomore Carlin Dick (2) and graduate student Gibson Krzeminski (2).
 
Freshman Peyton Consigli earned the victory in his collegiate debut, tossing 3.1 relief innings of Chris Pouliot, who made his his first appearance in a Canisius uniform against his former team.
 
Ben Dragani was saddled with the loss for the Panthers, going 3.1 innings, allowing four hits, five runs (four earned), walking five and striking out a pair of Griffs batters.
 
Pitt opened the scoring in the first inning after the Panthers brought eight batters to the plate. Tatem Levins' RBI double brought home the first run of the game before a sacrifice fly by Bryce Hulett and an RBI single by CJ Funk gave Pitt its early 3-0 lead.
 
Canisius tied the game in the third inning, 3-3, as all nine batters recorded a plate appearance. The first two batters safely reached base as Kyle Kush drew a leadoff walk before Mike Mazzara roped a double down the left field line. A sacrifice fly by Dick enabled Kush to score. The next four Griffs batters reached base following the flyout, three of which came on walks. Steffan singled home Mazzara, trimming the deficit in advance of a bases-loaded walk drawn by Krzeminski that drew the game even at 3-all.
 
Two more Canisius runs came in the fourth inning, putting the Griffs ahead for good. Grant reached on a fielding error, which allowed Mazzara to score. Steffan added his second RBI of the contest on a slow groundball down the third base line that scored Dick.
 
Pitt countered with a run on an RBI double by Jeffrey Wehler in the bottom half of the fourth, cutting Canisius' advantage to 5-4.
 
A pair of strikeouts opened the top half of the fifth inning, but a two-out Canisius rally enabled the Griffs to distance themselves from the Panthers. All five runs in the inning were unearned due to a Pitt throwing error. An infield single by Grant allowed the first runs of the rally to score before a bases-loaded walk by Vinny Chiarenza, a two-run single by Steffan and an RBI single by Mike DeStefano put the Griffs ahead, 10-4.
 
Dick and Grant had RBI singles to increase Canisius' cushion to 12-4 in the sixth inning. Pitt put a halt on the Griffs' scoring, getting a run to cross home plate on a single by Jack Anderson in the bottom half of the inning.
 
Steffan hit a leadoff home run in the seventh inning, giving him his fifth RBI of the contest. Josh Niles recorded his first collegiate RBI on a sacrifice fly.
 
Pitt added a pair of runs in the bottom of the eighth on a two-run single by Kyle Hess.
 
Krzeminski added an insurance marker with a two-out solo home run in the ninth.
 
Head Coach Matt Mazurek's Postgame Comments
"The offense woke back up and put together good at-bats and got the hard contact we worked for. A lot of guys today had great at-bats, whether it was a walk or a barrel or getting a job done.
 
"On the mound, it was good to get Chris Pouliot's first outing in the books and give him support. Peyton Consigli has always carried himself with a lot of confidence and that played into him having a strong outing today. He competed from the first batter he faced and that's what we needed. 
 
"Steff [Mike Steffan] continued his big weekend today. He is a bright person and a smart hitter. His plan this weekend worked for him and he didn't miss the pitches he can handle well. 
 
"This is a good start for us. We need to continue to build our group into the strong team we know we can be."
 
GAME NOTES
• Sunday was the 17th all-time meeting between Canisius and Pitt. With the victory, the Griffs improved to 4-13 all-time over the Panthers.
• Canisius is now 33-6 in the Matt Mazurek era when scoring 10-plus runs in a game.
• The Griffs are 97-1 all-time when scoring at least 15 runs in a game.
• With his five RBI today, Steffan became the first Canisius player since Ryan Stekl in 2018 to have multiple five-plus RBI games in a season. Canisius is 7-4 all-time when Steffan has a multi-RBI performance.
• Steffan logged his 17th career multi-hit game Sunday and the Griffs are 13-4 in those games.
• Steffan's four hits are the most by a Griff since Mike Mazzara had four against Marist on May 21, 2021, in the final game of the best-of-three series against Marist in the MAAC Baseball Championships.
• Mazzara scored four times in the contest, the most by a Canisius player since Carlin Dick crossed home plate five times against in the second game of a doubleheader against Saint Peter's on May 12, 2021.
• Peyton Consigli is the first Canisius true freshman to record a victory in his collegiate debut since current assistant coach Garrett Cortright posted a victory in his debut against Creighton on Feb. 20, 2011.
 
UP NEXT
The Griffs will travel to Morehead, Ky., for a four-game series against Morehead State on Friday. First pitch from Allen Field is scheduled for 3 p.m. The entire series will be broadcast on ESPN+.
 
For complete coverage of Canisius baseball, please follow @GriffsBaseball on Instagram and Twitter.
 
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