Baseball 5/15/2009 7:30:00 PM Canisius College Athletics

Baseball Pounds Niagara to Complete Three-Game Sweep

The Canisius College offense continued to produce big innings as the Golden Griffins finished off their three-game sweep of rival Niagara University with a 17-6 win at the Demske Sports Complex on Friday afternoon.

Canisius is now 33-20 overall and 16-8 in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference, locking up the No. 2 seed in next week's MAAC Championship (May 21-23, Trenton, N.J.). The opponent and game time for Canisius' opening game in the MAAC Championship will be determined after Saturday's games are completed. The Griffs end the regular season winning 18 of their final 22 games.

Senior Kevin Mailloux led the Golden Griffins with three hits on the day while also scoring three runs, hitting his 15th homer of the season and recording four RBIs. Senior Kevin Mahoney was 2-for-6 with two runs scored and four RBI while sophomore Brian Burton was 2-for-4 with two runs scored and two RBIs.

Both teams produced runs early with Niagara scoring two in the top of the first before Canisius responded with five in the bottom of the frame. Mahoney had a bases-clearing triple, Branson Joseph had an RBI groundout and Burton produced an RBI single to give Canisius the 5-2 lead.

Niagara came right back with three runs in the top of the second to tie the game before Canisius retook the lead in the bottom of the inning. Mahoney's RBI double and an RBI single from Joseph made the score 7-5.

The Griffs scored three runs on one hit in the bottom of the fifth, taking advantage of three Niagara errors and a wild pitch to go up 10-6. Mailloux hit a two-run homer in the seventh to push the lead to 12-6 before Canisius broke the game open with a five-run eighth.

Junior Mike Goemans earned his seventh win of the season by allowing six runs, four earned, on nine hits in six innings of work. Goemans settled down to retire nine of the last 10 batters he faced after allowing six runs in the first three innings. Freshmen Benson Merritt and Alek Brown combined with senior Matt Weber to each throw a scoreless inning of relief in closing out the victory.

Game Notes: Sophomore Will Chomicki received the first start of his career, going 1-for-2 with a run scored and a bunt single... Canisius has scored 10 runs or more in six of the last 11 games... Canisius batted around twice in the game and four times on the weekend, pushing their total to 26 on the season... The Griffs now have 25 innings on the season where they scored five runs or more... Merritt pitched for the first time since the Big Four opening-round game against Niagara on April 28... Brown pitched for the first time since the Big Four title game against Buffalo on April 29... Mahoney had 11 RBI in the three-game series and has 22 RBI in the last nine games... Burton had his first multi-hit game since April 19, against Saint Peter's... Mailloux broke his single-season hits record and now has 78 on the season... Mahoney set the single-season doubles record and now has 19 on the year... Goemans moved into second place on the career wins list, and now has 17 in three seasons.

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Players Mentioned

#31 Alek Brown: P; 5' 10"; Freshman

#33 Brian Burton: 1B; 6' 1"; Sophomore

#7 Will Chomicki: OF; 5' 8"; Sophomore

#19 Mike Goemans: P; 6' 4"; Junior

#2 Branson Joseph: OF; 6' 0"; Senior

#4 Kevin Mahoney: 3B; 6' 0"; Senior

#12 Kevin Mailloux: 2B; 6' 0"; Redshirt Senior

#18 Matt Weber: P; 6' 1"; Senior

Players Mentioned

#31 Alek Brown
: 5' 10"; Freshman
: P

#33 Brian Burton
: 6' 1"; Sophomore
: 1B

#7 Will Chomicki
: 5' 8"; Sophomore
: OF

#19 Mike Goemans
: 6' 4"; Junior
: P

#2 Branson Joseph
: 6' 0"; Senior
: OF

#4 Kevin Mahoney
: 6' 0"; Senior
: 3B

#12 Kevin Mailloux
: 6' 0"; Redshirt Senior
: 2B

#18 Matt Weber
: 6' 1"; Senior
: P