No. 2 Seed Siena Completes Run To MAAC Baseball Championship
MAAC Sports
LAKEWOOD, N.J. – Second seeded Siena College completed the doubleheader sweep of top-seeded Canisius College on Sunday (May 25) with a 5-1 victory in the winner-take-all title game of the 2014 Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Baseball Championship at FirstEnergy Park.
It is Siena’s first MAAC Baseball Championship since 1999, and with the victory, the Saints earn the MAAC’s automatic bid to the upcoming NCAA Division I Baseball Championship. Siena will learn its tournament fate on Monday, May 26 at noon when the NCAA Division I Baseball Championship Selection Show is televised on ESPNU.
Siena, which scored the stunning come-from-behind 6-5 upset over the Golden Griffins in Sunday’s first game to force the title game, continued its streaking ways by taking a 3-0 lead after three innings in the second game, with all three runs coming off the bat of senior rightfielder John Rooney. In the first frame, Vincent Citro led off with a base hit and eventually scored on Rooney’s fielder’s choice. Rooney then added a two-run double in the third inning.
Siena added insurance runs in the bottom of the sixth and bottom of the eighth. In the sixth, Brian Fay doubled, and scored on Dan Swain’s run scoring single to make the score 4-1. In the eighth, Andres Ortiz reached on a one-out double and scored on Dave Hoffman’s sacrifice fly.
Canisius scored its lone run in the top of sixth when Jimmy Luppens led off with long double to right center, and advanced to third on Connor Panas’ infield ground out, and scored on a wild pitch.
Siena starter Taylor Ahearn scattered six hits and allowed just one run over 5.2 innings, to earn the victory and raise his record to 2-2 in only his third start of the season. Matt Quintana and Neil Fryer combined for 3.1 innings of scoreless relief to close out the game for the Saints. Fryer, the Saints’ closer, had two wins and a save in the Championship.
Citro was named the Tournament’s Most Outstanding Player after going 3-for-4 with one run in the title game, and 6-for-9 with two runs on the day. For the Championship, Citro hit .700 and scored nine runs for the Saints (26-31). Mike Allen and Dan Swain each added two hits for the Saints in the title game.
Rohn Pierce, the MAAC’s 2014 regular season Pitcher of the Year, absorbed the loss, pitching a complete game after coming back on three days rest in the Championship. Pierce shut Quinnipiac down in the first game of the Championship, 10-1.
Anthony Massicci had three of Canisius (40-16) nine hits.
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2014 MAAC Baseball All-Championship Team
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Vincent Citro*
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Siena College
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Andres Ortiz
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Siena College
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Neil Fryer
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Siena College
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John Rooney
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Siena College
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Devon Stewart
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Canisius College
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Anthony Massicci
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Canisius College
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Jimmy Luppens
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Canisius College
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Kyle Perry
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Monmouth University
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Steve Wilgus
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Monmouth University
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Thomas Jankins
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Quinnipiac University
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Brendan Slattery
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Manhattan College
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Ryan Plourde
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Fairfield University
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*=Most Outstanding Player