Baseball’s home success sets focus on road schedule

By Andrew Nowel, Sports Layout Editor

With the return to western New York over the last couple of weeks, the baseball team has leveled their MAAC record at 6–6. With a trip across the state to Manhattan and Iona on the horizon, however, will the Griffs be able to maintain their success or will they crumble under the pressure of a long season?

After starting the season on a 15-game road trip, the Griffs came home to host the Merrimack Warriors, taking two of three games before heading back out on the road a week later. Defense was the problem when the Griffs went down to Lawrenceville, N.J. to face the Rider Broncs. In Game 1 alone, the Griffs committed five errors, four coming in a 13-run fifth inning, which was the difference in a 15–3 victory. Game 2 went well for Canisius as the defense was perfect, and the offense notched eight runs to earn the victory, but Game 3 saw the Griffs make another two errors as the Broncs capitalized on the mistakes for the 15–7 victory.

With a 3-6 conference record returning home to face the Saint Peter’s Peacocks, the Griffs needed a strong performance during Easter break to get back into the playoff race. Senior pitcher Felix Morin set the tone for the weekend, giving the Peacocks all kinds of trouble as Morin led the pitching staff to seven shutout innings while only allowing two hits. Freshman Jackson Long finished the game, maintaining the shutout in the 11–0 win for the Griffs, where the offense exploded for 17 hits. 

The next day, with a doubleheader to close out the series, 13 total runs were scored on 15 total hits for Canisius as they swept the Peacocks. On the mound, junior Joe LoPinto pitched a quality start with senior Sam Staerker earning the three-inning save while the second game of the doubleheader saw the young guns of the pitching staff keep the Peacocks to three runs led by freshman Mark Rogers, who dropped his ERA to 4.50 in only his second start of Rogers’ young career.

A 5-1 record for the Griffs to open their home schedule is exactly what Head Coach Matt Mazurek was looking for when the team returned to western New York in late March. With a renewed energy from the Griffs, Mazurek looks forward now to Niagara and the home-away-from-home feel that Lewiston, N.Y. has, being 40 minutes north of Canisius. The 1-5 road MAAC record concerns Mazurek, but the series with the Purple Eagles, a team Canisius has only beaten five times in 20 matchups since the COVID-19 pandemic, always brings a fire, fueled by the rivalry, to the Griffs that gives Mazurek and his team the confidence to win the series.

Coming off a loss in Olean, N.Y. earlier this week, the Griffs are looking to continue the home success on the road at Niagara before having one more home series at the Demske. The home series next weekend against the Quinnipiac Bobcats sets the tone for two weekends in New York City at the end of April and beginning of May to finish the road schedule for the Griffs.

Now at the peak of the regular season, the Griffs look to level their road record as crunch time begins in the MAAC. Led by Morin, junior JC Spinosa and others that look to step up, Canisius sits in a fragile position tied-seventh in a race where six teams make it to Pomona, N.Y in late May. With pressure building and the weight trying to crush the Griffs, Mazurek and his team hope to return from Lewiston above .500 in conference play before taking on the final push in a playoff race.

Felix Morin celebrating a strikeout (Photo by Joe Lehrman)