Griffs sweep Niagara in DH

Coach Mike McRae (Niagra Falls, Ont.) guided his current school, the Canisius Griffs, to a doubleheader sweep over his old team, the Niagara Purple Eagles, thanks to J.P. Stevenson (New Glasgow, PEI) and Jake Lumley (Windsor, Ont.) who won pitcher and player of the week earlier in the MAAC. Photo: Tom Wolf Imaging.

The Canisius Golden Griffs pounded out 30 runs in two games to dominate its archrival, the Niagara Purple Eagles, in a doubleheader sweep. The Griffs took the first game 14-4 and the second game 16-4 to end the day. With the win Canisius improves to 28-27 overall and 15-8 in MAAC play. Meanwhile Niagara fell to 13-31-2 and 8-15 in conference play.

In the first contest the Griffs belted 13 hits during the game as eight players tallied RBI. Jake Lumley (Windsor, Ont.) led the way with three hits.

J.P. Stevenson (New Glasgow, PEI) got the start and worked 5 1/3 innings as he notched his fifth win of the year. He limited Niagara to five hits and four runs and fanned five in the winning effort. Josh Shepley (Tecumseh, Ont.) worked the final inning and held the Purple Eagles hitless.

Niagara staked claim to a 3-0 lead in top of the second and third as Tyler Brophy (Burlington, Ont.) homers. Thomas Rodrigues (Pierrefonds, Que.) had a multi-hit game going 2-for-4. Tanner Kirwer (Sherwood Park, Alta.) pitched a scoreless inning.

However, Canisius exploded in the bottom of the third for 11 runs to tilt the game in its favor. The Purple Eagles starter Liam Stroud (Maple Ridge, BC) then proceeded to walk five-straight batters, yielding four runs thanks to the free pass. A three run double by Lumley and a two-run homerun capped scoring in the inning, as the Griffs didn’t look back.

Devon Stewart (Maple Ridge, BC) started game two for the Blue and Gold and went the full seven innings to secure the victory. He scattered seven hits and four runs to improve to 6-6.

Like the first game the Griffs had the bats going, as eight different players tallied RBI. Conor Panas (Toronto, Ont.) stayed hot at the dish as he went 3-of-5 with five RBIs to his credit, to help with the win. Lumley was strong once again as he went 3-of-3 with one RBI but scored four runs to help Canisius.

In game two … the Griffs offense scored early and often, amassing a 5-0 lead by the end of the second inning.

Brett Siddall (Windsor, Ont.) got the scoring started with an RBI single up the middle to make it 4-0. Panas’ triple to centre helped cap the scoring as he brought home two for the Blue and Gold.

The Griffs went on to score four more runs in the bottom of the sixth to help close out the 16-4 victory.