Iona Advances to Semifinals in 2017 MAAC LifeStorage Baseball Championship
MAAC Sports
No. 4 Iona College – 5 | No. 3 Canisius College – 2
2017 MAAC LifeStorage Baseball Championship – Game Eight
Sal Maglie Stadium
Niagara Falls, NY
Score by Innings 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Iona 0 2 1 0 2 0 0 0 0 5 8 1
Canisius 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 2 6 1
No. 4 Iona College defeated No. 3 Canisius College, 5-2, to earn its second victory of the day and advance to the semifinals of the 2017 MAAC LifeStorage Baseball Championship. The Gaels face No. 1 Fairfield University, tomorrow, May 27 at 12:00 p.m. on MAAC.TV
Game nine of the 2017 MAAC LifeStorage Baseball Championship is scheduled for tomorrow at 12:00 p.m. Game nine was originally scheduled for tonight, May 26 at 8:30 p.m., but per NCAA rules, a team cannot play more than two games in a day. Iona played two games today and earned wins in Game six and Game eight.
Freshman starter Stephen Hansen (2-3) earned the win for the Gaels. The freshman tossed a career-high 5.1 innings, allowed two runs, one earned, on four hits. He struck out none and walked three in the 77-pitch effort.
Senior Andrew Camiolo earned the save, his first of the season for Iona. The lefty pitched 3.2 innings of scoreless relief, surrendered two hits, struck out five, and walked none.
The Gaels scored the game's first runs in the top of the second inning. Senior first baseman Matt Byrne drove in a run with a ground out and senior third baseman Tyler Bruno followed with an infield single that brought home junior shortstop Sean Scales.
Iona's sophomore second baseman Sean Breen went 1-3 with a RBI. Sophomore outfielder Fran Kinsey went 2-5 with one RBI and two runs scored. Kinsey drove in a run with a single to centerfield in the top of the fifth inning to give the Gaels a 3-0 lead.
The Gaels hit .333 (4-12) with two outs, .400 (6-15) with runners on base, .400 (4-10) with runners in scoring position, and .300 (3-10) when leading off an inning.
Canisius' sophomore starter Andrew Kneussle (3-4) took the loss. He tossed 4.2 innings, allowed five runs, earned, on six hits. The sophomore struck out four and walked four in the 91-pitch effort. Senior Michael Ginther pitched 4.1 innings of scoreless relief for the Griffs. He surrendered two hits, struck out two, and walked one.
Junior rightfielder Gage Lanning went 1-4 with a solo home run, his fourth of the season. Lanning's homer came in the bottom of the sixth inning off Hansen. 2017 MAAC Player of the Year, senior shortstop Jake Lumley went 2-4 with a double for Canisius.
With the loss, the Griffs have been eliminated from the 2017 MAAC LifeStorage Baseball Championship. Canisius finished the season with a record of (35-22, 16-8 MAAC).
The 2017 MAAC LifeStorage Baseball Championship takes place at Sal Maglie Stadium hosted by Canisius College and Niagara University from May 24-28.
The Championship is a double elimination style tournament. If the team coming out of the losers' bracket defeats the team in the winners' bracket, the if necessary game takes place on Sunday, May 28 with game-time to be determined.
The winner of the 2017 MAAC Baseball Championship earns the league's automatic bid into the NCAA Championship. The NCAA Baseball Selection Show is on Monday, May 29 on ESPN2 at 12:00 p.m.
For all information on the 2017 MAAC LifeStorage Baseball Championship, visit maacsports.com/baseball and be sure to follow the action on social media by using #MAACBaseball and #LiveNF.
Tickets can be purchased for the 2017 MAAC LifeStorage Baseball Championship by visiting maac.ticketleap.com.