QU Baseball Falls to Canisius in MAAC Tournament; Faces Siena Friday at 3:30 p.m.

Thursday, May 24

Staten Island, N.Y. / Richmond County Bank Ballpark

12:00 PM

Quinnipiac University

25-29

Canisius

33-20

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	Runs R	Hits H	Errors E
Canisius	0	2	0	1	1	0	0	1	6	11	13	1
Quinnipiac	0	1	1	0	1	0	0	0	0	3	8	2

QU Baseball Falls to Canisius in MAAC Tournament; Faces Siena Friday at 3:30 p.m.

5/24/2018 4:04:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score

By: QU Athletic Communications

Bruce Deckert | QU Athletic Communications

SCORE
Canisius 11, Quinnipiac 3

RECORDS — REGULAR SEASON
No. 2 seed Quinnipiac — 25-28, 16-8 MAAC
No. 3 seed Canisius — 32-20, 16-8 MAAC

LOCATION
Richmond County Bank Ballpark — Staten Island, N.Y.

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — In the second round of the MAAC Baseball Championship, the Quinnipiac Bobcats fell 11-3 to the Canisius Golden Griffins on Thursday at Richmond County Bank Ballpark in Staten Island, N.Y.

The contest was tight until the ninth inning, when Canisius put the game away with six runs.

This was the Bobcats' first game in the double-elimination tournament — they had a first-round bye as the No. 2 seed — so they're still alive. They play next on Friday at 3:30 p.m. against Siena, which defeated Marist 9-5 in an elimination game on Thursday night to advance.

Canisius, the No. 3 seed, struck first in the top of the second inning. A single and an RBI double were followed by a bunt single and a walk to load the bases with no one out.

After a sacrifice fly extended the lead to 2-0, Bobcats senior starter Taylor Luciani struck out the next batter on a called third strike for the second out of the inning. The 6-foot-1 right-hander allowed another walk — loading the bases again — but struck out the next batter to escape with minimal damage.

If the final score had been close, the meaning of such an escape would have been magnified — but on this day, it wasn't to be.

Quinnipiac got a run back in the bottom of the second inning when junior right fielder Liam Scafariello hit a solo home run to left field. In the regular season, Scafariello was second in home runs in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (with 13).

In the bottom of the third inning Quinnipiac tied the score via a two-out rally. Sophomore second baseman Dylan Lutz, QU's No. 2 hitter, singled up the middle, and senior first baseman Ben Gibson walked on four straight pitches in an apparent attempt to pitch around the MAAC's home run leader. Sophomore third baseman Evan Vulgamore stroked an RBI single to left-center, and the game was even at 2-2.

Lutz hadn't played since April 8 due to an injury. While he played second base today, he was QU's shortstop for the first half of the season.

Canisius took a 3-2 lead with two outs in the top of the fourth inning on two walks and an RBI single, and made it 4-2 in the top of the fifth on a single, a walk, a groundout that advanced the baserunners, and an RBI groundout.

Quinnipiac cut the deficit to 4-3 in the bottom of the fifth when sophomore left fielder Andre Marrero, QU's leadoff hitter, doubled to left-center and Gibson hit an RBI ground-rule double to right field.

In the top of the sixth inning, Quinnipiac pulled a Houdini act — again, it would have been magnified if this ended up as a close game, but at the time it was a one-run margin, so it's worth noting.

Luciani gave up a leadoff single and then gave way to senior reliever Wyatt Hamilton, who allowed a single and a hit-by-pitch to load the bases with no outs. But the 6-foot-7 right-hander bore down, inducing a forceout at home plate, a short flyout to right field, and a called third strike to accomplish a magician-like escape.

In the top of the eighth inning, Canisius scored once against senior closer Mike Davis to go up 5-3 on a double, a wild pitch, a walk and a double play. There was no RBI due to the DP, but the run was home nonetheless.

Canisius proceeded to score six times in the top of the ninth inning, including one unearned run, for the 11-3 final. A leadoff double in the ninth was a routine fly ball that got lost in the sun. After a popout came an error, and then the floodgates opened.

Sophomore reliever Will Frank (4-1) got the win for Canisius, while Luciani (8-3) took the loss.

Besides Scafariello (1-for-3) and his solo homer, Vulgamore (2-for-4, RBI) and Marrero (2-for-5, run) paced the Bobcats' attack. Gibson (double, RBI) and freshman DH Ian Ostberg each went 1-for-3.

NEXT UP
On Friday at 3:30 p.m., No. 2 seed Quinnipiac will face No. 4 Siena in the third round of the MAAC Baseball Championship at Richmond County Bank Ballpark in Staten Island, N.Y. The loser will be out of the tournament, but the winner will play Friday at 7 p.m. against either No. 1 Monmouth or No. 3 Canisius.

For more details, go to the MAAC Baseball Championship home page. Every game of the MAAC Championship is being aired on ESPN+.

PLAYOFF NOTES
• Quinnipiac earned the No. 2 seed despite being picked to finish 8th in the MAAC Preseason Coaches' Poll. The top six teams in the 11-team league play in the MAAC Baseball Championship. Quinnipiac (16-8 MAAC) was in first place until the final weekend of the regular season, but the Monmouth Hawks (16-7 MAAC) ended up atop the conference by one-half game (their regular season finale was canceled due to rain). The Bobcats started 8-0 in the league and had sole possession of first place from the first weekend of the MAAC season until the next-to-last weekend. Then they were in a three-way tie for first heading into their final regular season series. Before this year, the Bobcats' best MAAC season was a third-place finish (15-9) in 2015, which was John Delaney's first season as head coach.

• Three Quinnipiac sluggers — senior Ben Gibson, junior Liam Scafariello and sophomore Evan Vulgamore — finished 1-2-3 in home runs in the MAAC regular season. Gibson had 18 home runs in all games, both conference and nonconference. Scafariello was second with 13 homers, and Vulgamore was tied for third with 10. Only two other MAAC hitters had double-digit home runs. In conference games only, Gibson (11 HRs) was first, Scafariello (9) was second, and Vulgamore (8) was alone in third. In the nation, Gibson's 18 homers were tied for 8th, and he was tied for 7th in homers per game (0.35).

• This year, Bobcats senior starter Taylor Luciani tied Quinnipiac's Division I record for single-season wins (with 8). The 6-foot-1 right-hander is tied with Andy Mayer, who set the record in 2007. Including the program's Division II history, Quinnipiac's overall single-season record of 9 wins is held by Nick DeMaio (in 1960) and Dan Ford (in 1968).

• Gibson established several Quinnipiac records this season. He holds the Bobcats' Division I records for single-season home runs (18), single-season RBI (53, second in the MAAC this year) and career home runs (31). His 18 homers are tied for Quinnipiac's all-time single-season record, including the program's Division II history. Meanwhile, Scafariello is in second place on Quinnipiac's career home run list (30). He held the career mark briefly earlier this season, but Gibson finished on a tear — hitting five homers in the last six regular season games — to surge into the career home run lead.

• Scafariello and Vulgamore were the only two players in the MAAC regular season to finish in the top 10 (in all games) in home runs, RBI and stolen bases. Scafariello had 13 home runs (second place), 42 RBI (seventh-most) and 10 stolen bases (tied for fifth-most). Vulgamore had 10 home runs (tied for third-most), 38 RBI (ninth-most) and 9 stolen bases (tied for sixth-most).