BUFFALO, New York – The Marist baseball team dropped both ends of a Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference doubleheader at the Canisius Golden Griffins by scores of 8-5 and 8-7 on Thursday afternoon.
With the losses, the Red Foxes lost back-to-back games for the first time since April 1
st and moved to 26-20 (14-9 MAAC) overall.
GAME 1 SUMMARY:
The Golden Griffins got on the board first in the bottom of the first inning with a one out solo home run to center field to take a 1-0 lead.
Two innings later, Marist answered in the top of the third when redshirt junior
Jordan Roper led off with a triple and two batters later, scored on an RBI ground out by senior
Andrew Rouse to even the score at 1-1. Redshirt senior
Greg Kocinski then singled through the left side and redshirt junior
Tyler Kapuscinski smacked a two run homer to center field to give the Red Foxes a 3-1 lead.
One inning later, senior
Matt Iantosca knocked a one out single to left field, freshman
Reece Armitage followed with a hit by pitch and during the next at bat, Iantosca stole third and Armitage stole second. Roper followed with an RBI sacrifice fly and it was 4-1 Marist after three and a half innings.
Canisius answered in the bottom of the fifth with a two out solo home run, a double to left center and an RBI single to trim the deficit to 4-3. Then in the bottom of the sixth, a leadoff single was followed with a ground rule double three batters later, a two RBI single and an RBI single by the next two batters and just like that it was 6-4 Golden Griffins.
In the bottom of the seventh, Canisius made it three straight scoring innings with a one out solo home run, a single and a dropped fly ball by the right fielder that let a run score to extend the lead to 8-4.
The Red Foxes brought the score to 8-5 in the top of the eighth when Rouse reached second on a dropped fly ball by the left fielder, advanced to third on a ground out and then scored on a Kapuscinski RBI sacrifice fly.
Down by three runs in the top of the ninth, Marist looked to rally but were unable as the Golden Griffins held on for the 8-5 win.
GAME 2 SUMMARY:
The Red Foxes opened the scoring in the top of the third inning. Junior
Anthony Lazar led off with a single and advanced to second on a ground out. Kocinski reached on a fielding error by the third baseman that moved Lazar to third and Taveras followed with an RBI fielder's choice, before Kocinski scored on a throwing error by the third baseman that gave Marist a 2-0 lead.
Canisius answered with a run in the bottom of the third when the leadoff hitter reached on a dropped strike three, the next batter was hit by a pitch and then a sacrifice bunt set up men on second and third with one out. A walk by the next hitter loaded the bases and a second walk forced in a run to bring the score to 2-1 Red Foxes.
One inning later, the Golden Griffins offense exploded for six runs on five hits and held a 7-2 lead and four innings.
Marist trimmed the deficit in the top of the fifth when Rouse led off with a walk and advanced to second on a wild pitch two batters later. Kapuscinski and Taveras followed with walks to load the bases, redshirt junior
Chris Tracz knocked an RBI single to the pitcher that scored Rouse and Armitage laced a two RBI single up the middle, scoring Taveras and Kapuscinski to bring the score to 7-5.
The score remained the same until the top of the seventh when the Red Foxes came to bat for a final time. Taveras led off with a hit by pitch and two batters later, junior
Frankie Gregoire tied the game at 7-7 with a two run home run to right center, his 24th career home run that moved him into sole possession of second place all-time in program history.Â
However, in the bottom of the seventh, Canisius got a leadoff double and advanced the runner to third with a ground out. Two batters later, the runner scored from third on a wild pitch to give the Golden Griffins a walk off 8-7 win.
KEY STATS:
- Canisius outhit Marist 14-6 in Game 1, while the Red Foxes outhit the Golden Griffins 9-7 in Game 2
- Canisius left 13Â men on base between the two games, while the Red Foxes stranded 12
UP NEXT:
The two teams will wrap up the series and the regular season with a nine inning game on Friday at noon.
