QU Baseball Sweeps Doubleheader with Canisius, Protects First-Place Standing in MAAC

Saturday, April 21

Buffalo, N.Y. / Demske Sports Complex

2:30 PM

Quinnipiac University

17-19, 0

Canisius

20-13, 0

Quinnipiac

Canisius

QU Baseball Sweeps Doubleheader with Canisius, Protects First-Place Standing in MAAC

4/21/2018 8:29:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2

By: QU Athletic Communications

Bruce Deckert | QU Athletic Communications

SCORES
Game 1: Quinnipiac 9, Canisius 5
Game 2: Quinnipiac 3, Canisius 0

RECORDS
Quinnipiac — 18-19, 10-1 MAAC
Canisius — 20-14, 9-5 MAAC

LOCATION
Demske Sports Complex – Buffalo, N.Y.

BUFFALO, N.Y. — The Quinnipiac Bobcats baseball team swept a MAAC doubleheader with the Canisius Golden Griffins on Saturday, taking game one 9-5 and game two 3-0. In the process, the Bobcats (10-1 MAAC) strengthened their hold on first place in the conference.

In Quinnipiac's game-one win, QU junior Liam Scafariello paced a 10-hit attack with two solo home runs. His eight homers are second on the team and in the conference, behind Bobcats senior Ben Gibson (nine HRs).

In the game-two win, righty starter Brandon Shileikis produced a masterful shutout in the seven-inning game (one doubleheader contest is typically seven innings).

A 6-foot-1 graduate student, Shileikis struck out seven while allowing only four hits and two walks.

Quinnipiac made it dramatic in game two, waiting until the top of the seventh to score all three runs. Scafariello led off with a walk, advanced to second on a groundout, and scored on freshman Colton Bender's RBI single to right field.

After junior Kevin Huscher walked with two outs, he and Bender advanced to second and third on a wild pitch, and then freshman Ian Ostberg provided a couple of insurance runs with a two-RBI single.

As it turned out, Shileikis didn't need the insurance. In the bottom of the seventh, he finished what he started by inducing a groundout and two strikeouts (both swinging) to close out the QU win.

In game one, the Bobcats led 4-2 after scoring two runs apiece in the first two innings while Canisius scored one in each inning. Gibson's two-run single in the first inning opened the scoring, but in the bottom of the third Canisius tied the game 4-4.

QU reclaimed the lead right away on Huscher's two-run single in the top of the fourth to go up 6-4. The Bobcats recorded single runs in the fifth and seventh innings on Scafariello's two solo homers and added an unearned run in the eighth. A solo homer in the bottom of the ninth by Canisius senior Ryan Stekl forged the final score of 9-5.

Key game-one contributors for the Bobcats were senior Julius Saporito (2-for-4, two runs), Ostberg (2-for-3, one run), Huscher (1-for-1, two walks, two RBI, one run) and Gibson (1-for-4, two RBI).

Senior right-hander Taylor Luciani (6-2) notched the win for the Bobcats, and freshman right-hander Arthur Correira recorded his second save of the season.

Manhattan (8-3) is in second place in the MAAC behind first-place Quinnipiac (10-1), while Canisius (9-5) is in third.

NEXT UP
The Bobcats return home for a nonconference game Tuesday against the Hartford Hawks, who have defeated Quinnipiac twice this season. Tuesday's game time is 3 p.m.