Griffs clinch berth, Panas honored
1B Conor Panas (Toronto, Ont.) picked up a couple of awards as the Canisius Golden Griffens wrapped up an MAAC playoff berth.
The Canisius College baseball team wasn’t just battling the Siena Saints, but Mother Nature too. The Griffs slogged through two rain delays, totaling one hour and 38 minutes, and fell 4-1 in a shortened contest due to darkness.
With the loss the Griffs drop its final road MAAC series of the year, 2-1, and fall to 25-27 overall and 13-8 in the MAAC. With the win, With Canisus’ win on Saturday and Siena’s win today, both teams secured a place in the MAAC Championship tournament coming up May 20-23.
The Canisius bats weren’t quite as quiet as they were on Saturday as the squad belted out seven hits in the contest, but Canisius managed one run in the course of the 8 1/3 inning-long contest.
J.P. Stevenson (New Glasgow, PEI) had his start cut short thanks to a rain delay as he worked two scoreless innings, allowed two hits and fanned four.Josh Shepley (Windsor, Ont.) worked a scoreless 2/3 of an inning and kept Siena in check.
In the nite cap on Saturday … the Griffs scored a 4-3 on Saturday afternoon.
Iannick Remillard (Valleyfield, Que.) came on to stop the bleeding and shut the door on the Siena offense in the seventh.
In the second game … the Griffs went with a pitcher by committee approach as Devon Stewart (Maple Ridge, BC) threw for just one inning and allowed two hits and two earned runs in the abbreviated outing. Zachary Sloan(Brampton, Ont.) came on in relief and pitched three scoreless innings and allowed two hits, Remillard entered the game and worked the rest of the way, as he allowed one hit and no runs as he improved to 1-4.
Down 2-0 Canisius answered in the fifth, as Brett Siddall (Windsor, Ont.) scored on a balk and Connor Panas (Toronto, Ont.) stayed hot at the dish as he drove in a pair on a single to end the inning up 3-2.
Panas honored I: Panas was a huge part of Canisius sweep of Marist, and the conference honored the slugger by naming him Player of the week.
He has been locked in at the plate as of late, as he posted a .632 batting average along with 12 hits and 12 RBI during the five game stretch. Panas recorded two or more hits in all but one game during the week, with four of his hits coming the way of the long ball.
The senior first basemen was an integral part of the team’s sweep of the Red Foxes as he recorded a dramatic walk-off homerun in game one of the series to help lift the Griffs to a 4-2 win. He also recorded key RBI’s in game two as the team cruised to a 5-1 victory. In game three he capped his weekend with a two-homerun game, which included a grand slam that completed a seven-run comeback and gave Canisius its first lead of the game, as the squad went on to win 16-11.
With his incredible week, Panas now leads the MAAC in batting average (.370), hits (68), runs scored (46), and is second in homeruns (nine) and RBIs (45).
Panas honored II: The College of Sports Information Directors of America announced its 2015 Capital One Academic All-District teams and Panas was included in District I.
Panas, who is coming off a incredible five-game stretch where he recorded 12 hits, 12 RBI and four homeruns, including a weekend sweep of Marist, is equally as impressive in the classroom as he sports a 3.78 GPA.
The Toronto, Ontario native, is in the driver seat of many MAAC statistics including batting average (.370), slugging percentage (.630), runs scored (46), hits (68) and is second in both homeruns (9) and RBI (45).
With Panas’ inclusion in the All-District team, he will now be eligible to be a national selection. The standout was named to the Captial One Second-Team in 2014 and is looking for his second-straight national All-American award.