Complete Game from Davis Sends Baseball to Championship Round

TRENTON, N.J. ? Knowing the bullpen needed a rest, redshirt sophomore Shane Davis strapped the Golden Griffins on his back and carried them to the championship round of the 2009 MAAC Tournament.

Davis allowed two runs in his nine innings of work as the Canisius College baseball team won its second consecutive elimination game with a 3-2 victory over No. 1 seed Manhattan at Waterfront Park on Friday night.

Canisius (35-21) advances to the championship round of the MAAC Tournament for the first time in program history. The Griffs will need to defeat Marist twice on Saturday to win the conference title. The first game between the teams will take place at 1 p.m. on Saturday. If Canisius wins that game, the teams will play for the MAAC Championship 30 to 45 minutes after the first game.

The Griffs received solo homers from Kevin Mailloux and Shayne Willson, with Mailloux's homer coming in the first and Willson's coming in the second to give Canisius an early 2-0 lead.

Manhattan (35-18) responded with two runs in the bottom of the third getting an RBI single from Mark Onorati and a sacrifice fly from Mike McCann to tie the game at 2-2.

The Griffs would get what proved to be the game-winning hit in the fifth inning. Mailloux drew a one-out walk, moved to second on a groundout and came around to score on an RBI single from Branson Joseph, giving Canisius the 3-2 lead.

Davis made that lead hold up as he didn't allow Manhattan to score during the final six innings and didn't allow the Jaspers to get a runner past second base after the third inning. Davis improves to 9-2 on the season by allowing the two runs on five hits, walking four and striking out five.

Game Notes: Canisius wins two postseason games for the first time in program history... Willson is now 8-for-14 in the three games of the tournament with a homer and four RBI... Davis threw his fourth complete game of the season and the third nine-inning complete game of his career... Davis improves to 4-0 in his career against Manhattan in four starts... Sophomore Brian Burton had two hits in the game and now has two hits in his last three starts... Joseph has four RBI on the weekend, all of them coming with two outs.

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Players Mentioned

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

#32 Shane Davis: P; 6' 0"; Redshirt Sophomore

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

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

#9 Shayne Willson: OF; 6' 2"; Junior

Players Mentioned

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

#32 Shane Davis
: 6' 0"; Redshirt Sophomore
: P

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

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

#9 Shayne Willson
: 6' 2"; Junior
: OF