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Canisius University Athletics

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Vinny Chiarenza looks at his home run ball against Marist
Ken Morey
3
Marist MARIST 17-13, 7-5 MAAC
11
Winner Canisius CAN 17-15, 8-4 MAAC
Marist MARIST
17-13, 7-5 MAAC
3
Final
11
Canisius CAN
17-15, 8-4 MAAC
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Marist MARIST 0 2 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 3 6 3
Canisius CAN 4 0 0 1 4 0 1 1 X 11 15 1

W: Kochanski, Brett (1-0) L: Alex Pansini (4-3)

Game Recap: Baseball |

Offense Leads Baseball to Series Victory Over Marist

Canisius jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the first inning, propelling the Golden Griffins to an 11-3 victory and a series victory over Marist at the Demske Sports Complex on Saturday afternoon.
 
Junior Mike DeStefano, senior Dylan Vincent and graduate student Mike Steffan had three-hit days for Canisius (17-15, 8-4 MAAC). Sophomore Max Grant drove in three runs while going 2-for-5 at the plate.
 
Senior Brett Kochanski earned his first victory after pitching 2.2 innings in relief of starter Justin Guiliano. The redshirt freshman logged three innings and allowed three hits and two runs (one earned). He walked four and struck out three in his start.
 
Johnny Decker was the lone Marist (17-13, 7-4 MAAC) batter to record a multi-hit game, going 2-for-4.
 
Marist starter Alex Pansini was the losing pitcher after yielding 12 hits in his 4.2-inning outing. He allowed nine runs (eight earned) while walking three and striking out five.
 
GAME RECAP
The first four Canisius batters reached base safely, jumping on Pansini to open the contest.
 
DeStefano led the game off with a single before sophomore Carlin Dick drew a four-pitch walk. Grant opened the scoring with a two-run double to the left-center field gap. Vincent drove in a run with an RBI single before a Marist miscue brought another run across home plate.
 
Marist plated a pair of two-out runs in the second to cut the Griffs' lead in half, 4-2. After consecutive walks drawn by Dylan Hoy and Donnie Stone, Nathan Lincoln hit an RBI single up the middle before a Canisius throwing error enabled a second run to score.
 
Guiliano and Kochanski settled in on the mound, retiring nine consecutive Marist batters from the third to sixth innings.
 
While the pitching tandem was cruising, Canisius scored five unanswered runs over the fourth and fifth innings to increase its lead to 9-2.
 
Dick and Steffan hit doubles in the fourth, which increased the team's lead to 5-2.
 
In the fifth, Vincent led the inning off with a single, setting up graduate student Vinny Chiarenza for a two-run home run to deep center field. DeStefano drove in senior Kyle Kush on a sacrifice fly. Grant drove in his third run of the day with a two-out RBI single.
 
In his first plate appearance after entering as a defensive replacement, Marco Ali hit an RBI single that cut the Red Foxes' deficit to 9-4 in the sixth.
 
DeStefano scored on a Marist wild pitch in the seventh and redshirt freshman Josh Niles crossed home plate following a failed pickoff attempt in the eighth to close out the scoring.
 
Head Coach Matt Mazurek's Postgame Comments
"It's great when you can win a weekend. Today's win was a good one. The bats came out and started hot out of the gates, getting four in the first. Justin Guiliano did what we needed him to do from the start. We got a good bridge there from Brett Kochanski and Pelt [Tom Peltier] and then we did what we needed to do to get the win.
 
"Where we are now, that's a big series because Marist is a good team and they're going to be there at the end of the day. To have a tiebreaker over a team like that is a good thing to have. We just need to continue to play well and keep winning weekends so that we can help ourselves get to where we want to be.
 
"Once we got done with non-conference play, we started to see ourselves pitched a certain way, so we've had to adjust and the guys are starting to make those adjustments. They're starting to trust an approach and become good hitters. Less is more and they're finding ways to do it. They don't need to overthink things and it's getting a little easier for them. Moving forward, it's not going to be easy, but if they continue to have a mature approach, they can continue to put up runs.
 
"For guys that come in, no matter who, when, whatever the spot, we just need you to do your job. We got guys today that knew that's what we needed coming in. Today's game was great from the pitching perspective for guys doing what they need to do to help us get the win. It doesn't need to be a guy that needs to go seven innings. Just empty the tank, get us three [innings], and hand the baton to the next guy."
 
GAME NOTES
• Saturday was the 80th meeting between Canisius and Marist. Canisius is now 36-44 all-time over the Red Foxes.
• The 78 combined runs during the three-game series is the most ever in a three-game series played by Canisius.
• With its 15 hits Saturday, the Griffs have logged at least 11 hits in seven of its last 10 games. The team is hitting at a .343 clip (142-of-414) in April, with 56 of the 142 hits going for extra bases (34 doubles, five triples, 17 home runs).
• Grant has recorded at least three RBI in each of his last three games. In the three-game series against Marist, he drove in 12 runs. During his seven-game hit streak, Grant is batting .576 (19-of-33) with five doubles, a triple, two home runs and 16 RBI.
• Kochanski made his first appearance since March 26 at Manhattan and recorded his first collegiate victory.
 
UP NEXT
Canisius will travel to Athens, Ohio, for a non-conference doubleheader against Ohio next Saturday (April 23). First pitch from Bob Wren Stadium is scheduled for noon.
 
For complete coverage of Canisius baseball, please follow @GriffsBaseball on Instagram and Twitter.
 
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