Skip To Main Content
Skip To Main Content

Canisius University Athletics

#Griffs The Official Home of the Canisius University Golden Griffins | #Griffs
Dylan Vincent reacts with the Canisius bench during the 2022 MAAC Baseball Championship
Demetrius Kazanas
9
Rider RIDERB 27-25
11
Winner Canisius CAN 28-23
Rider RIDERB
27-25
9
Final
11
Canisius CAN
28-23
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Rider RIDERB 0 2 2 0 0 1 2 0 2 9 9 1
Canisius CAN 0 0 0 2 1 5 1 2 X 11 15 3

W: Peltier, Tom (3-2) L: Kirwin, D. (3-1) S: Consigli, Peyton (7)

Game Recap: Baseball |

Offense Propels Baseball to MAAC Baseball Championship Round

Third-seeded Canisius recorded 15 hits as the Golden Griffins defeated fifth-seeded Rider, 11-9, on Friday morning to advance to the Championship Round of the MAAC Baseball Championship at Clover Stadium in Pomona, N.Y.
 
Canisius will make its eighth appearance in the championship round of the conference tournament. It is the first time since 2018 that the Griffs are among the final two at the conference championship.
 
Junior Mike DeStefano and senior Dylan Vincent led Canisius' offense with three-hit performances. DeStefano went 3-for-5 with a pair of RBI singles. Vincent went 3-for-5, scoring three runs and recording an RBI double. Graduate student Gibson Krzeminski and senior Kyle Kush added two hits and two RBI apiece.
 
Junior Tom Peltier was the winning pitcher for the Griffs (28-23), logging six innings of work. He allowed six runs (five earned) on six hits while issuing five walks and striking out three in his outing. Freshman Peyton Consigli earned his seventh save after pitching the final two innings.
 
Brendan O'Donnell went 4-for-5 with a double, home run and two RBI for the Broncs (27-25). Socrates Bardatsos also hit a home run.
 
Danny Kirwin was the losing pitcher for Rider, giving up four runs on four hits in 1.2 innings.
 
GAME RECAP
Rider opened the scoring, plating the first four runs of the game to leap out to a 4-0 lead after the third inning.
 
The Broncs notched two runs in the second on a bunt single and an RBI groundout. O'Donnell hit an opposite field two-run home run in the third to give Rider a four-run lead.
 
Canisius cut into Rider's lead, plating three unanswered runs over the fourth and fifth innings.
 
Kush tallied the first Canisius run on an RBI single. Following a popout, DeStefano hit the first of his two run-scoring singles of the day, cutting the Broncs' lead in half, 4-2.
 
A wild pitch by Rider in the fifth with two outs allowed Canisius to score its third run of the contest.
 
In the sixth, Scott Shaw hit a sacrifice fly to put Rider ahead, 5-3.
 
The Griffs retaliated with a five-run sixth, taking an 8-5 lead over the Broncs. DeStefano hit an RBI single to make it a one-run game before graduate student Vinny Chiarenza kick-started a two-out rally by the Griffs with an RBI single, tying the game at 5-all. Vincent put Canisius ahead on a bloop RBI double down the left field line. Krzeminski cleared the bases with a two-RBI triple hit to the left-center field gap.
 
Rider responded with a two-run seventh on the power of a two-run blast by Bardatsos.
 
Sophomore Max Grant hit a two-out, solo home run to the bleachers in right-center field in the seventh to add an insurance run for the Griffs, making it a 9-7 game.
 
Fellow sophomore Carlin Dick and Kush logged consecutive run-scoring plays to put Canisius ahead, 11-7, in the home half of the eighth. Dick hit a sacrifice fly before Kush recorded an RBI single.
 
Rider trimmed the Canisius lead down to two in the ninth behind a sacrifice fly before a balk with a runner at third base was called, allowing another Bronc run to score. That would be as close as Rider would get, as Consigli got the next batter he faced to groundout to short, sending the Griffs to the championship round. 
 
Head Coach Matt Mazurek's Postgame Comments
"Today was a battle and we stayed with one another the entire way to get the win. The offense just needed to be a little better in the box, stay loose and stick with what we are good at. When we stay loose and let the at-bats happen, instead of forcing things, we give ourselves a shot to make things happen.
 
"This game in the MAAC Tournament is always a roller coaster. We were able to do what we needed to put ourselves in a great position tomorrow. We will enjoy this for a little bit and then prepare for our next game."
 
GAME NOTES
• Friday was the 77th meeting between Canisius and Rider. The Griffs improved to 37-40 over the Broncs with the victory. Ten of the last 13 meetings between the teams have been decided by three runs or less.
• With the victory, Canisius is now 11-2 as a No. 3 seed at the MAAC Baseball Championship and has won its last seven games as the third-ranked team.
• Canisius has scored 10-plus runs in three consecutive games for the first time in postseason play since plating double-digit runs in three straight games at the 2015 MAAC Tournament.
• Over its three games in the MAAC Baseball Championship, the Griffs have outscored its opponents 28-1 between the fourth and sixth innings.
• Krzeminski's two-run triple was Canisius' 18th three-bagger of the year. That total is tied for the sixth-most by a Griffs squad, matching the output of teams in 1982, 2012 and last year.
• With his fourth-inning RBI single, DeStefano recorded his 100th career hit. He is now one of four active Griffs with at least 100 career hits (Mike Steffan – 125, Max Grant – 118, Dylan Vincent – 103 and DeStefano – 101).
• Grant's seventh-inning home run was his 86th hit of the season. He is now tied with Kevin Mailloux (2009) for the third-most hits by a Canisius player in a season.
• Vincent stole two bases Friday, increasing his season total to 20. Along with DeStefano's 21 steals, they are the first Canisius tandem to have 20 steals in the same season.
• With his save, Consigli is tied with Ryan McGorman (2008) and Shayne Willson (2010) for the seventh-most saves in a season. Consigli already ranks eighth in program history for saves in a career.
• The 12 saves by the Canisius pitching staff are tied for the sixth-most in a season, matching the 2015 and 2019 squads.
 
UP NEXT
Canisius will play Saturday at noon in the MAAC Baseball Championship against the winner of the elimination bracket, which will be determined later on Friday.
 
For complete coverage of Canisius baseball, please follow @GriffsBaseball on Instagram and Twitter.
 
Print Friendly Version