By Andrew Nowel, Sports Reporter
The Canisius baseball team was swept by the George Washington Revolutionaries in a three-game series this weekend. The Griffs began the series with a doubleheader on Friday, falling in both games 7-3 and 4-3. On Sunday, it was all Revolutionaries as they dominated the Griffs in a 9-1 victory. Tuesday saw the Griffs jump out to a 6-0 lead over Binghamton before allowing the Bearcats to complete the comeback, in an 11-10 loss.
The Griffs began the first game on Friday with a three-run first inning. Redshirt Freshman catcher Thomas Zwirecki singled in two runs to take the 3-0 lead in the game. However, the Revolutionaries used two three-run innings to push them past the Griffs in a 7-3 victory. Junior pitcher Peyton Consigli was tagged with his second loss of the season, going just over five innings with eight hits and six earned runs.
Game 2 of the doubleheader began with a pitchers’ duel as neither team scored until the Revolutionaries struck first in the bottom of the fourth inning. Griffs Freshman Eric Weeks tied the game with a RBI single in the top of the sixth, but the Revolutionaries took back the lead in the bottom of that inning and added two insurance runs in the eighth inning to earn the 4-3 victory over the Griffs. Redshirt Junior pitcher Justin Guiliano had a strong outing, going five innings with four hits, one earned run, five strikeouts, and a no decision.
The Revolutionaries began Sunday’s game with eight runs in the first four innings of the game, taking an 8-1 lead into the fifth inning. The Griffs’ sole run came from Junior outfielder Jackson Strong’s fifth homer of the season, in the fourth inning. The Revolutionaries added an extra run to complete the series sweep of the Griffs, handing them their fifth straight loss. Griffs Sophomore pitcher Felix Morin was tagged with his first loss of the season after starting 3-0. He went three innings allowing eight hits, five earned runs, and four strikeouts.
When the Griffs arrived in Washington D.C. two weeks ago, they entered with an overall record of 3-6 and left with two more wins. However, after defeating the Liberty Flames in the first game of the series last weekend, the Griffs haven’t been able to win a game. The bats have only averaged three runs per game during this five-game stretch while the pitching has allowed eight runs per game during the same shaky stretch.
This continued in a weekday matchup against the Binghamton Bearcats on Tuesday as the Griffs got the bats going, scoring 10 runs, but allowed 11 to fall in walk-off fashion to the Bearcats. The Griffs scored six runs in the top of the second inning to take an early 6-0 lead, but the Bearcats battled back for the 11-10 victory.
A bright spot through the dry spell for the Griffs has been Graduate Student outfielder Mike DeStefano who recorded his 58th career stolen base this past weekend, putting him as the all-time leader in stolen bases at Canisius. DeStefano has had an excellent start to his fifth season with Canisius, hitting .289 this season while hitting his third homer of the season in Tuesday’s loss.
As the Griffs look ahead, Head Coach Matt Mazurek looks to find the consistency needed to begin conference play with a string of wins that can be put together to build momentum. The Griffs will host the Manhattan Jaspers to begin MAAC play on Thursday at 1 p.m. in their home opener at the Demske Sports Complex, starting a three-game series with the Jaspers that runs through Saturday.
Photo courtesy of Joe Lehrman