QU Baseball Travels to Canisius for Three-Game Series on Saturday and Sunday

Saturday, May 14

Buffalo, NY

12 PM

Quinnipiac University

Canisius

QU Baseball Travels to Canisius for Three-Game Series on Saturday and Sunday

5/11/2016 12:00:00 PM | Baseball

By: QU Sports Information

Quinnipiac University Bobcats (18-28, 7-11 MAAC) at
Canisius College Golden Griffins (26-23, 12-6 MAAC)
Date: Saturday, May 14, 2016
Time: 12 PM
Location: Demske Sports Complex - Buffalo, N.Y.
All-Time Series vs. Canisius: 1-5
Last Meeting: L, 12-2 (MAAC Semifinals // May 22, 2015 - Fishkill, N.Y.)
Probable Starters: Thomas Jankins (4-6, 3.30 ERA) at TBD

Quinnipiac University Bobcats (18-28, 7-11 MAAC) at
Canisius College Golden Griffins (26-23, 12-6 MAAC)
Date: Saturday, May 14, 2016
Time: 3 PM
Location: Demske Sports Complex - Buffalo, N.Y.
All-Time Series vs. Canisius: 1-5
Last Meeting: L, 12-2 (MAAC Semifinals // May 22, 2015 - Fishkill, N.Y.)
Probable Starters: Taylor Luciani (3-3, 3.08 ERA) at TBD

Quinnipiac University Bobcats (18-28, 7-11 MAAC) at
Canisius College Golden Griffins (26-23, 12-6 MAAC)
Date: Saturday, May 14, 2016
Time: 12 PM
Location: Demske Sports Complex - Buffalo, N.Y.
All-Time Series vs. Canisius: 1-5
Last Meeting: L, 12-2 (MAAC Semifinals // May 22, 2015 - Fishkill, N.Y.)
Probable Starters: Brandon Shileikis (3-0, 3.16 ERA) at TBD

Follow the Bobcats:
Live Stats: GoGriffs.com
Twitter - @TheQBaseball

Shipping up to Buffalo
The Quinnipiac baseball team hits the road for its second to last regular season road trip of the season as they will face the Canisius Golden Griffins in a doubleheader on Saturday, May 14 at 12 PM followed by a single game on Sunday, May 15 at 12 PM.

All-Time Against Canisius
Quinnipiac is 1-5 all-time in six meetings with Canisius, with all six games coming in the past two seasons. The Bobcats picked up their first ever win over the Golden Griffins in the second round of the MAAC playoffs last season, winning 6-1 to advance to the MAAC Semifinals. The win snapped a four-game losing streak to the Golden Griffins. Canisius rebounded to beat the Bobcats in the semifinals, 12-2, before advancing to their second straight NCAA Tournament.

Scouting the Golden Griffins
Canisius comes into the weekend series with a 26-23 record and 12-6 record in MAAC play. The Golden Griffins are sitting in third place in the MAAC behind Fairfield and Monmouth who are first and second, respectively. Canisius has been struggling as of late after a nine-game winning streak, losing four of their last six games. Last weekend, Canisius lost two of three at the first-place Fairfield Stags. Jake Lumley leads the Golden Griffins in numerous offensive categories with a .328 batting average, 59 hits, three home runs, and 32 RBIs while his 40 runs scored, .428 slugging percentage, 28 walks, .424 on base percentage and 10 stolen bases. Anthony Massicci is second with a .320 batting average, 12 doubles, 22 RBIs and two home runs while his 41 runs scored, .462 slugging percentage and .443 are first on the team. As a pitching staff, Canisius has an ERA of 3.87 and an opponent batting average of .247. They have 359 strikeouts in 407 innings pitched. Nolan Hunt leads all starters with a 4-0 record and 2.81 ERA.

Last Time Out
Quinnipiac snapped a five-game losing on Sunday as they defeat Rider in the final game of their weekend series, 9-8. The offense came alive for six runs over the first two innings before holding on late to their 9-8 lead for the win. It moved Quinnipiac up to 7-11 in the MAAC. The Bobcats are currently in ninth place but are only one game out of seventh place and 3.5 games out of sixth place for the final playoff spot.

Hang on to the Lead
The Bobcats 9-8 victory continued to show their dominance when leading late in games. The Bobcats are 14-1 when lead after the sixth and seventh inning, and 14-0 when leading after the eighth inning. The Bobcats have solid in one-run games, posting an 8-4 record.

Strike a Pose
Thomas Jankins is in the midst of one of the best seasons in the program's Division I history. After picking up seven strikeouts against Rider on Saturday, he now has 68 this season, which is tied with Chris Gloor's 68 strikeouts in 2008 for the second most in a single-season in program history. Jankins now has 169 strikeouts in his career, good for fifth in the program's Division I history and tied with Turk Wendell '88 for the 10^th most all-time in program history. He currently is second in the MAAC with 68 strikeouts, third in batters struck out looking (19), second in innings pitched (73 2/3) and fifth in opponent batting average (.255). He is 4-6 this season for the Bobcats.

On the Front Burner
Joseph Burns had a tremendous weekend for the Bobcats as he went 5 for 11 and hit his fifth home run of the season, the third player on the team to reach five home runs. Burns extended his current hitting streak to five games and has hit safely in 12 of his last 13 games. Over that 13 game stretch, Burns has risen his batting average from .218 to .261. He tied for the team-lead with five hits while leading the team with five RBIs in the weekend. Burns is now fourth on the team with 23 RBI and 43 hits. Burns currently leads the team with 16 extra base hits this season.

Matty Bats
Matthew Batten continued his torrid season as he rose his batting average back up to .348 after a five-hit weekend as well. Batten was second on the team with three runs scored and two RRBIs while leading the team with two walks and three stolen bases. In game one of the doubleheader on Sunday, Batten tallied his 10^th three-hit game of the season and 18^th multiple-hit game. He also drove in two-RBI with a seventh inning single. Batten is the team-leader in batting average (.348), runs scored (37), hits (65), slugging percentage (.481) and stolen bases (19) while he is second in RBIs (25), home runs (4) and on base percentage (.406). With two more hits and three more stolen bases, Batten will tie his career-highs while he has already tied his career-high 37 runs scored.

Double Down
Lou Iannotti was second on the team this past weekend with four hits, including his 10^th double of the season. Iannotti also came home to score a run and drive in a RBI as he rose his team-leading total to 31. He also rose his batting average back up to .294 after snapping a 1 for 23 stretch. He reached the 50-hit mark for the second consecutive season with a pair of two-hit games to give him 13 on the season, good for third on the team.

Pay-check
Matthew Payero came in for the final game of the series against Rider and played one of the best games of his career as he went 2 for 5 with a double, two RBIs and three runs scored. Payero also pinch-ran in the previous game to score another run in the series. He has now scored nine runs this season.

Horton Hears a Who
Kyle Horton picked up his first career hit in the final game of the series after making just his sixth career start. The hit was also his first extra base hit as he doubled down the right field line, moving up to third on a misplayed ball by the right fielder.

The Real JT
Justin Thomas continued his solid relief work over the weekend as he pitched 3 1/3 innings out of the bullpen in the first game of Sunday's doubleheader. Thomas came on for Robert Hitt with two outs in the fourth inning, inducing a groundout to get the Bobcats out of the jam. Thomas went on to allow just two hits and strike out three batters to finish out the game and give the Bobcats a chance to attempt a comeback.

Jersey Boys
Joseph Scaglione picked up the first save of his career on Sunday in the final game of the series, making his second appearance of the weekend. Scaglione pitched a perfect ninth inning with two strikeouts to pick up the save. Matthew Lorenzetti pitched a perfect eighth inning to get the hold, striking out one to maintain the Bobcats 9-8 lead. Matthew Osieja picked up his first win of the season for the Bobcats with 1/3 of an inning of work to get the Bobcats out of the sixth inning.

Waiting in the Wings
Quinnipiac will wrap up the regular season with its final MAAC series of the season as they hit the road for Fairfield for a doubleheader on Thursday, May 19 beginning at 12 PM before the regular season finale on Friday, May 20 with first pitch set for 12 PM.