The Canisius College baseball team used strong pitching and took advantage of five Fairfield errors in the opener, but the Golden Griffins couldn't solve Stags starter Brett Warwick in the nightcap. The Golden Griffins won 5-2 and then fell 4-0 at Fairfield on Saturday afternoon, and now stand at 23-22 overall and 9-5 in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference.

Game One - Canisius 5, Fairfield 2

Fairfield took the 2-0 lead, scoring a run in the first and second innings off Canisius starter Garrett Cortright. The Golden Griffins offense threatened early, getting baserunners in four of the first five innings but hitting into inning-ending double plays in the first and fourth innings.

Canisius broke through in the sixth inning, taking advantage of three Fairfield errors in the inning. Sophomore Jimmy Luppens started the rally with a one-out single, and sophomore Shane Zimmer doubled to right-center. Senior Drew Pettit followed with an RBI single to score Luppens with a Fairfield throwing error scoring Zimmer and letting Pettit advance to second. After junior Chris Gruarin grounded out and moved Pettit to third, junior catcher Brooklyn Foster singled to second base and scored Pettit to put Canisius ahead 3-2. Sophomore Ryan Coppinger reached on a throwing error that moved Foster to third base. Coppinger then stole second base, with the errant throw allowing Foster to score the fourth run of the inning, three being unearned.

Canisius added an insurance run in the eighth, also an unearned run. Zimmer led off with a walk, moved to second on a sacrifice from Pettit and took third base on a grounder from Gruarin. Foster then reached on the sixth Fairfield error of the game that scored Zimmer and made it 5-2.

Cortright (5-5) earned the win, allowing two runs, one earned, in 6.2 innings. The sophomore matched a career-high with five walks and also struck out five. The combination of redshirt junior Nathan Linseman and sophomore Jon Fitzsimmons closed out the win with 2.1 scoreless innings of relief. Fitzsimmons earned his 10^th save of the season.

Game Two - Fairfield 4, Canisius 0

Fairfield scored two runs in the first, to take the lead off Canisius starter Devon Stewart. The Stags added runs in the third and sixth innings, building a four-run lead that would be more than enough for Warwick.

Warwick didn't allow a hit until two outs in to the fourth inning. Pettit singled up the middle, a double from Luppens and an intentional walk to Gruarin loaded the bases. Warwick struck out junior Manny Hernandez to end the best Canisius threat of the game.

Stewart (3-3) went six innings, allowing four runs on six hits, walking three and striking out four. Warwick (3-3) allowed four hits and walked one while striking out nine in the complete-game victory.

Canisius and Fairfield wrap up the series on Sunday, with first pitch set for noon.

Notes: Canisius and Fairfield split the doubleheader for the third straight season... Canisius has not scored a run in the second game of the conference series each of the last two weekends... Canisius has allowed at least one run in the first inning in nine of the last 11 games... Cortright pitched into the seventh inning for the sixth time in the last seven starts... Fitzsimmons has recorded a strikeout in 12 straight appearances... Linseman has allowed one run in his last eight appearances (6.1 innings)... Luppens is 9-for-22 (.409) with five runs scored and five RBI in the last seven games... Stewart went at least six innings ninth time in 11 starts as a Golden Griffin... Sophomore Jose Torralba went hitless in consecutive starts for just the second time this season - matching Zimmer for the lowest total on the team.