Griffs and Gaels combine for 33 runs, 12 homers in Holy Thursday showdown

By Andrew Nowel, Sports Reporter

Easter weekend began with the baseball team hosting the Iona Gaels last Thursday, but no one expected the onslaught of runs from both teams in a four-hour game. The Gaels came out on top in the 17–16 victory of 11 innings, but has it woken the Griffs offense going forward?

Thursday’s game began with the first pitch at 3:05 p.m. and the early innings were a normal baseball game. After two runs in the top of the fifth, Iona led 6–2 as the game went into the bottom of the inning. 

Freshman Brayden Hy got things going for the Canisius bats with a leadoff single and came around to score on an Eric Weeks RBI single. The sophomore from Pittsburgh scored as senior Trent Rumley singled him home. Rumley and junior Mason Cisco scored on an Iona error, tying the game at six.

The game was already on a trajectory of high scoring, but that became crystal clear as the Griffs added six more runs in the bottom of the sixth to take a 12–6 lead. An error scored Hy, Rumley slammed his eighth homer of the season and Thomas Zwirecki and Josh Niles both hit RBI singles in the massive inning. The six-run lead was comfortable, or so it seemed.

Iona answered with nine runs in the top of the seventh to take back the lead at 15–12. The Gaels had already hit three homers prior to this inning with their catcher having two of them, but they weren’t done yet with the long ball. They slammed four home runs in the inning with the Gaels’ catcher tabbing his third home run of the day. The Griffs didn’t back down and answered with three runs in the bottom of the seventh, all three coming on home runs from Weeks and Cisco.

However, the offense of both teams were held quiet with each team scoring only one run the rest of the final two innings. The Griffs got as close as a strike away from winning the game, but the Gaels scored on a double to send the game to extra innings. The 12th homer of the day would be the go-ahead run for Iona, ending the day with a 17–16 Gaels victory. A total of 33 runs included 12 homers, which tied the NCAA record for most in a single game this season, and a nearly four-hour game began the series between Iona and Canisius.

Both teams continued to destroy the ball throughout the weekend. Even though the Griffs were held scoreless the next day, they came back in the final game of the series with an eight-run performance, winning on getaway day. 

The team carried this success into Tuesday’s non-conference matchup, where the Griffs hit four home runs in a 17–4 rout of St. Bonaventure. The game ended in the eighth with the mercy rule in effect.

Canisius has scored 41 runs in their last four home games, and they will return to the Demske this weekend to host Mount St. Mary’s. With the final stretch fastly approaching, the Griffs will try to carry themselves, with help from the Demske Beach and its conditions, into the MAAC Championship.