Canisius Defeats Quinnipiac, 10-1, To Advance
MAAC Sports
LAKEWOOD, N.J. – The top-seeded Canisius College baseball team spotted Quinnipiac University an early one-run lead and then settled down to score 10 unanswered runs to defeat the Bobcats 10-1 in the opening round of the 2014 Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Baseball Championship at FirstEnergy Park.
Golden Griffins starting pitcher Rohn Pierce allowed Quinnipiac a first-inning run and then settled down to blank Quinnipiac University over the next five innings. The MAAC’s “Pitcher of the Year” allowed three hits and one run, and struck out three, to raise his record to 11-2.
Three Canisius relievers, Mike Tolsma, Brandon Bielecki and Eric Stolzenburg, came in to shut Quinnipiac down the rest of the way to secure the victory. The Bobcats did manage to load the bases in the top of the ninth before the Golden Griffins got out of the jam without allowing a run.
The Bobcats reached Pierce for a run in the top of the first when Mike Palladino led off with a base hit, moved to second on Matthew Batten’s single, and scored on an infield ground out by Vincent Guglietti.
Canisius responded with two runs in the bottom of the first to take the lead for good, when Jimmy Luppens drilled a two-run homer over the left centerfield wall.
The Golden Griffins added a solo run in the second when Jesse Puscheck reached on an error and scored on Christ Conley’s single. Canisius added three more runs in the bottom of the fourth when Anthony Massicci drilled a two-RBI triple, and then scored on Luppens’ double.
Canisius rounded out the scoring with three runs in the bottom of the fifth, as Puscheck had an RBI double and Luppens and Massicci each had run-scoring hits. Canisius added a run in the seventh when Massicci reached on a one-out double and scored on Connor Panas base hit.
Massicci and Luppens each tallied three hits for the Golden Griffins, who are 39-14. Massicci scored three runs and had three RBI, while Luppens scored once and and drove in four hits. Mike Krische had three hits and scored once for the Griffs.
Freshman Matthew Batten had three hits for the Bobcats (18-30), while Scott Donaghue had two hits.
The victory, the 17th consecutive win for Canisius, puts the Golden Griffins into Friday’s (May 23) noon game against the winner of tomorrow’s (May 22) Siena vs. Fairfield contest, which will also be played at noon. Quinnipiac will face the winner of tomorrow’s 3:30 game, Manhattan vs. Monmouth. Quinnipiac will play the winner at 7:00 p.m.