Morro homers for Canisius

Ontario Blue Jays alum Conner Morro (Cheltenham, Ont.) hit a solo home run and had two walks to help the Canisius Golden Griffins to a 3-2 win in the first game of their doubleheader against the Manhattan Jaspers on Monday. Photo: Canisius Athletics

April 1, 2019

From Canisius Athletics Website

RECAP
The Canisius baseball team picked up the series win against Manhattan with a 3-2 victory in the first game of a Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference doubleheader Monday afternoon at the Demske Sports Complex, but could complete the sweep, losing the nightcap by a 5-4 score.

The split moved the Golden Griffins to 11-16 on the season and 5-1 in MAAC play, while the Jaspers shifted to 8-18 overall and improved to 1-2 in conference action.

Senior Nolan Hunt tossed his second straight quality start in the opening game to earn the win, going six innings and striking out four while allowing two runs on seven hits. Junior Stephen Bennett and redshirt freshman Mike Steffan each tallied two hits in the first game, and junior Jake Burlingame collected two hits himself in game two.

GAME ONE
Sam Franco got the visiting Jaspers on the board first, as a third-inning single brought home Jonathan Barditch from second.

Junior Andy Leader was able to knot the game at 1-1 for the Griffs in the bottom of the third, taking home on a wild pitch after drawing a walk, stealing second and being moved up to third on a ground-out.

Manhattan's Nick Cimillo quickly responded in the top-half of the fourth, leading off with a homer to center and retaking the lead.

Canisius senior Conner Morro (Cheltenham, Ont.) matched Cimillo later in the fourth, launching a solo shot over the center-field fence to even the score at 2-2. The Blue and Gold would score the eventual winning run shortly thereafter, as senior Joseph Preziuso hit a sacrifice fly that Steffan tagged up and scored on, and the Griffs would hold on to that 3-2 advantage the rest of the way.

Hunt would give way to junior closer Will Frank in the seventh. Frank went on to record the save after totaling one hit, one walk and one strikeout in his inning of work.

Manhattan starter T.J. Stuart was the sole pitcher used by the Jaspers, being credited with the loss after allowing three runs on six hits in his six frames while fanning six Canisius batters. On offense, Manhattan saw Barditch and Matt Padre both double in addition to Cimillo's homer, as eight different Jaspers recorded one hit apiece.

For the Griffs, Morro also drew two walks to go with his solo blast and Burlingame recorded a double in his only hit of the game.

GAME TWO
After a pitching duel through the first three innings, Canisius broke through in the home-half of the fourth when redshirt junior William Krull rocketed a double off the left-field wall to plate Leader and fellow junior Jacob Victor. The Griffs added another run in the inning, as Krull crossed home when sophomore Jacob Martins singled up the middle, extending the lead to 3-0.

Franco once again opened the Manhattan scoring, legging out a bases-loaded triple with two gone in the fifth that drove in three Jaspers and evened the nightcap.

Another Cimillo home run, this time to left, gave the visiting team the lead in the sixth.

Canisius would briefly tie the game again in the seventh, as Victor drove in freshman Trevor Henneman with a sacrifice fly, bringing the score to 4-4.

The contest would not stay tied for long, however, as Cimillo reached base with a double and then advanced home on back-to-back wild pitches.

The game remained in favor of the Jaspers the rest of the way as Joe DiTorrice locked up the win with five innings of relief, allowing one unearned run on three hits while punching out four Griffs. Ryan Takacs started the game for the Jaspers, giving up three runs (one earned) in his four frames on the mound.

Freshman David Yankowski was handed the loss for Canisius, giving up the winning run in his one inning as allowed a hit and a walk while recording a strikeout. Senior starter Andrew Kneussle threw five innings, issuing three runs on three hits and racking up six strikeouts. Sophomore Jeff DeStefano went two innings, giving up a run on one hit and one walk, striking out two. The final Canisius pitcher, junior Jarod Burmaster, totaled one walk and one strikeout in his one frame.

At the plate, both Franco and Cimillo tallied two-hit performances for Manhatan, while Burlingame recorded two hits for the Golden Griffins.

HEAD COACH MATT MAZUREK'S POSTGAME COMMENTS
"It's good to win the weekend, that's goal No. 1 for us to win two out of three.

"Disappointed in the way it finished. Our team's DNA is to go out there and try your best to win the last game. I think we had a few gaffs. We go out and score three in the third game and then we give up three right away, and that's something we kind of thought we were past at this point of the year. That came back to bite us, and then late in the game we could have put up a few more good at-bats. We need to be competitive in those spots and I think we can be.

"It's a learning experience. You're not going to sweep every team but we're going to try to. That's in our DNA. We understand it's not likely every time, but when you have the opportunity to and let it slip out of your hands, it's not easy to swallow."

GAME NOTES
• Monday was the 72nd and 73rd all-time meetings between the two MAAC schools, with Manhattan now holding a 40-33 edge in the series.
• The last time the Griffs won their first five home games was 2014, when Canisius put together eight-straight wins at the Demske to start the home schedule.
• Canisius has now won four of its last five regular-season series with the Jaspers.
• In six doubleheaders this year, the Griffs have split only twice.
• Burlingame is now on a nine-game on-base streak.
• Bennett now has nine multi-hit contests this season, while both Burlingame and Steffan now have five multi-hit games in 2019.
• Hunt has recorded four-or-more strikeouts in all but one appearance this season.
• Monday was Kneussle's fourth appearance this campaign where the righty went five innings or further.
• The Griffs are now 3-0 when holding an opponent to two runs or less.

UP NEXT
Canisius goes on the road April 6-7 for a three-game MAAC series at Quinnipiac, playing a doubleheader Saturday before finishing the series with one game Sunday. Start time for both days is set for Noon.