Posted Saturday at 10:40 a.m.

Good Saturday morning from the Trenton Marriott. We've been spending too much time in this hotel, so thankfully we're leaving for the park in just over an hour.

I just taped the pregame interview with Drew Pettit, who used a very interesting ritual to snap out of an early-season slump. Drew is also the first Golden Griffin up every morning as he's the first one at breakfast. He was there before I got down to the restaurant at 7:30 this morning. Apparently he's not a fan of sleep as he told me "You can't waste away your life sleeping all day."

Going to try and find some food before we head to the park. Not sure if the lunch buffet is open. If not, have to head over to Subway or something like that. Hopefully it's a long day over there.

Posted Friday at 10:43 p.m.

It's funny to notice the differences between female and male student-athletes. One that I noticed on this trip comes in the monitoring of other games. I wouldn't say the guys are actively monitoring the other games taking place in the tournament, but they are aware of what's been taking place. We have been at the hotel for both of the night games and a couple of players have stopped by the room to see Koki for some treatment or whatnot. They will watch part of the game on the computer. They knew tonight pretty quickly about the wacky ending to the Siena-Manhattan game. And our interview subject, Garrett Cortright, was actually at the game with his parents after they went out to eat.

It was easy to see during the game but letting the game digest and you see all the big plays that took place in the Griffs' 4-3 win. Burton struggled at the plate today but came up with the defensive play of the game with the diving stop of Heyne's ground ball. Pettit was struggling at the plate, going 0-for-6 before getting the game-winning hit with the two-RBI double in the seventh. Cortright made some big pitches. Linseman and Martin did the same. It was a great team win.

Canisius will need to continue to do that on Saturday if the Griffs want to keep their season alive. They play a Siena team that has been hot the last few weeks of the season, but is coming off an extremely tough loss. That's a quick turnaround for the Saints team, but I would expect them to be ready to play. The winner of that game has to beat Manhattan twice, but before anyone beats the Jaspers twice you have to beat them once on Saturday night. 

We'll cross that bridge if the Griffs get there. Time to get some rest. Could be a long day at the park on Saturday.

Posted Friday at 7:11 p.m.

Obviously a happier group of Golden Griffins after a very exciting win, keeping the season alive for at least another day. The story and stats are up. I'll have some multimedia up later tonight. Looking for a video interview and going to try to do some audio highlights. No promises on that last one, but it's a good project.

Time to shower and get some food. It's still hot here in Trenton.

Posted Friday at 11:14 a.m.

Been a fairly quiet morning in the hotel. Breakfast was definitely quieter, not because of the Griffs but there were far fewer businessmen and businesswomen in the hotel this morning. There appeared to be some sort of conference or meetings going on during Thursday morning, making it much more crowded. They apparently have started the holiday weekend early.

Anyway, I'm off to go track down a pre-game interview. I have a good idea on who I'm looking for, just have to track him down.

Posted Thursday at 8:22 p.m.

Tough loss for the Griffs today. There's no other way to write that one. It's always hard when you lose in the postseason, but to lose in a walk-off fashion, that just seems a little more painful.

It was hot. I mean really hot. I know that we're not used to those temperatures at this time of year, but it was in the mid-to-upper 80s and very warm/humid at Waterfront Park. The East wind blowing in was welcome and I wish there would have been more.

I'm not 100 percent sure on this one, and I will double check when we're at the park tomorrow, but I don't think any team in MAAC history has lost the first game and then come back to win four in a row to win the MAAC title. I know the old format made it more difficult (two games on day two and two games on day three). Now, with the format modeling the NCAA Tournament, you have to win one game on day two, two games on day three and one game on day four. Yes, it takes a lot of arms, big hits and some luck, but it's been done at the NCAA regional level so it's nowhere near impossible. The Griffs made one heck of a run in 2009, winning three straight one-run games to get to the final game, but they just ran out of gas.

Koki and I got some Chinese food for dinner. A team effort as I found the restaurant online and he placed the order. I'm not a big Chinese food fan, but I do enjoy General Tso's chicken. 

That's all from me tonight. I've got the Rider-Siena game on the video webcast on my computer while Coach Mac and Coach Mazurek went back to the park to watch the game. I needed to get a shower and didn't feel the need for me to sit in that heat any longer.

We'll be back tomorrow. See ya then.


Posted Thursday at 1:30 p.m.

Some people say that Memorial Day weekend is the start of the summer and the weather here in Trenton verifies that claim. It is a hot and humid day here at Waterfront Park. That traditionally happens in the MAAC Tournament -- a lot of hot weather. I wasn't there last year, but I was told nothing can compare to the heat the Griffs had one day one.

It was a jam-packed morning of eating. Yes, eating. We had two meals to get in before leaving at 12:45. I was up early for a run, stiffed by Coach Asis, and then hit the breakfast buffet around 8:30. At 12:15, we were back down there for the lunch buffet. I went light because we just ate three hours ago.

If you know anything about Canisius and Manhattan, it's that they win a lot of games and play in the MAAC Championship. This is the fourth straight year the teams have met in the postseason and fifth time overall. Canisius is 4-0 and has ended Manhattan's season each of the last three years. Today's starter, Shane Davis, is 3-0 in his postseason career against the Jaspers and 6-1 in his career overall.

I feel the Griffs are in a good place mentally. I never got the sense they were tight this morning or on the bus ride over to the ballpark. They seemed loose and focused on the task at hand. Does that mean anything? Who knows? I don't think it's a bad thing at all. They're the No. 4 seed with nothing to lose. There's really no pressure on them to do anything this weekend. However, the last three teams to win this thing have been three seeds or lower. And Canisius has been here five straight years, so they aren't in the "Happy To Be There Mode" I felt they were in back in 2007 when making it as a No. 4 seed.

Time to get ready for the braodcast and whatnot. And trying to stay cool. I'll be back after the game.

Posted Wednesday at 9 p.m.

Just got done doing some interviews. We'll have a video interview with Sean Jamieson as he was named MAAC Co-Player of the Year at the awards banquet tonight. I also taped the pre-game interview with Will Chomicki. That will air around 2:50 pm during tomorrow's pre-game show.

It was a good banquet. What does that mean? Quick and good food. A very good selection -- Caesar salad, bruschetta, chicken or veal parm (not sure which), penne, tortellini and meatballs. The cookie and small brownie I snagged for dessert were also delicious.

Not much else to report. Should be back with something in the morning.

Posted Wednesday at 6:35 p.m.

The Griffs are in quick shower mode as they returned from practice on Waterfront Park around 6:15 p.m. It was a little warm over at the ballpark and if you know the Philadelphia/Trenton area, you know it can get hot and humid very easily. The forecast for the next two days looks pretty warm (mid-to-upper 80s). I think everyone would take that over the 50 and cold we had back in Buffalo for a bunch of games this season.

It was a routine practice for the Griffs as some pitchers got work in over in the bullpen. The position players started with some defensive drills and then went through BP in three groups. One group hits, one group runs the bases and one group does more defensive work. 

After practice, the seniors on the team shared their "senior moments" or what they most remember about their time as a Golden Griffin. A couple of them mentioned that moment, and I'm sure all would agree, that their senior moment could be replaced with a MAAC Championship this weekend.

Finally, the bounty on first Griff to mention the blog was claimed by redshirt sophomore Nathan Linseman. He did ask about the blog before we left Buffalo, so I guess he wins.

Time to go to the KatManDu

Posted Wednesday at 1:59 p.m.

Just returned from the lunch buffet here at the Trenton Marriott. They had a pretty good spread of lasagna, fish, corn, salad, rice and some delicious desserts. I enjoyed some chocolate cake as well as a cookie. I know my roommate, athletic trainer Koki Takano, enjoyed some cake as well, but not as much chocolate as myself.

Posted Wednesday at 12:47 p.m.

Good Wednesday afternoon from the Trenton Marriott, our residence for the MAAC Baseball Championship. This is a very nice hotel, as I've stayed here a number of times with various Canisius teams. This was also the team hotel for 2009 MAAC Baseball Championship. Great breakfast buffet and I'm intrigued to try the lunch buffet. We have until 2 pm to enjoy that.

After a good breakfast at the Comfort Suites in Scranton (how can you not enjoy strawberry waffle mix), the team had another simple ride, this time from Scranton to Trenton. The movie of choice was Glory Road. I was familiar with the story but had never seen the actual movie. It is definitely recommended.

Time to get some work done this afternoon around lunch. The team leaves for practice at Waterfront Park at 4 p.m. After that it's the banquet. 


Posted Tuesday at 11:55 p.m.

We've arrived at our destination for the next 10 hours — the Comfort Suites in Scranton. At least for tonight, and probably for the rest of the trip, I'll be sharing a room with athletic trainer Koki Takano. We have a very spacious room with two beds and a sleeper sofa. There is actually a microwave and fridge as well. Unfortunately, we won't be able to use it. The bathroom does appear to be small and the nightstand is crowded with a lamp and alarm clock without much room for any personal stuff.

The TV isn't HD, however, we do get a ton of TV channels here and one of them is Versus. Thanks to the West Coast, we have some playoff hockey on right now.

It was a fairly uneventful bus ride to Scranton. The Griffs watched one movie, called The Experiment. It was very intense. It was based on the Stanford Prison Experiment from 1971. The guys seemed into it.

We completed a phone interview with the Niagara Gazette as well with the reporter talking to coach McRae as well as two guys who used to play at Niagara County Community College. 

One thing I learned is that Perry Silverman is a glove doctor. He was re-stringing a glove during the early portion of the trip. I'm guessing that's a skill he learned hanging around the clubhouse as his dad works for the Florida Marlins as an equipment manager.

We'll be departing for Trenton at 10 AM. I'll check back in at some point in the afternoon.

No one has said anything about the blog for the free shoutout. 

Posted Tuesday at 5 p.m.

Good afternoon Golden Griffin baseball fans as we're ready to embark on the trip to Trenton, N.J. for the 2011 MAAC Championship. My name is Matt Lozar and I'm an assistant director of athletic communications at Canisius College. I work directly as the sports information director for the Canisius College baseball team and will be accompanying them throughout the postseason.

We're about to leave the Koessler Athletic Center with a scheduled departure of 6 p.m. The team is currently eating over at the dining hall on campus. We're doing about two-thirds of the trip tonight and staying in Scranton, Pa. The team will then complete the rest of the drive down to Trenton on Wednesday with practice at Waterfront Park scheduled for 4:30 p.m.

I know the guys on the team always enjoy the road trip blog, so the first thing we'll do is see which one mentions it to me first. The first one who does gets a blog shoutout.

Anyway, time to grab some food myself and wrap up some things here in the office.