Luke Edwards hit a walk-off home run in the bottom of the ninth to give Marshall a 6-5 victory over Canisius in the first game of the doubleheader before the Golden Griffins secured a 4-3 win over the Thundering Herd in the second game of the twinbill Saturday in collegiate baseball action from the Kennedy Center YMCA Field in Huntington, W. Va.
With the split, Canisius sits at 3-8 on the season while Marshall holds an 8-5 record.
Game One Recap
The Thundering Herd jumped out to an early 2-0 advantage in the first before an RBI fielder’s choice by senior Brennan Chisholm in the second and an RBI double off the bat of senior Mike DeStefano in the third knotted things at two.
Marshall reclaimed its lead in the home half of the fourth, when it sent nine batters to the plate.
With two outs and the bases loaded, Edwards drove in his first two runs of the day on a single through the right side, promptly ending Canisius starter Aaron Duffy’s day.
Following a walk to reload the bases, Owen Ayers worked a free pass to bring in the third run of the inning and put the Thundering Herd up 5-2.
The Griffs would not go away and responded with a three-run frame of their own in the next half inning.
Sophomore Cole Sebastian led off the inning thanks to a Marshall fielding error before junior Max Grant and redshirt sophomore Josh Niles both followed with hit by pitches.
DeStefano plated Sebastian courtesy of a sacrifice fly to cut the deficit to two runs.
Senior Ryan Weiss became the third Griff to get plunked in the inning, allowing graduate Kyle Kush to cash in on the bases loaded, sending the first pitch he saw up the middle for a two-run single, re-tying the contest.
The two teams remained scoreless heading into the bottom of the ninth when Edwards connected on the 1-1 pitch from freshman Felix Morin, sending it over the left field wall for the walk-off win for the host squad.
Duffy made the start for Canisius, tossing 3.2 innings of no-decision work.
Morin took the loss, but threw four strong innings out of the bullpen, allowing just two hits while striking out four.
Drew Harlow earned his fourth victory of the season for Marshall, allowing just one Griff to reach base over the final 4.2 innings of play.
Game Two Recap
The Canisius pitching staff was strong in the second game of the twinbill, striking out 11 batters and yielding just one extra-base hit.
Niles helped give the Griffs the 1-0 lead with his second home run of the season, a solo blast in the second inning off Marshall starter Zac Addkison.
Canisius extended its lead in the fifth after freshman Mason Cisco scored on a fielding error. Moments later, Kush plated Canisius’ third run on junior Carlin Dick’s groundout to first.
The Griffs briefly took a four-run advantage in the sixth when Kush walked with the bases loaded to bring home senior Kenny Dodson.
Marshall responded with a run in the home half of the sixth and seventh innings, cutting the Canisius lead to 4-2.
The Thundering Herd looked to walk it off for the second straight game when the first four batters reached base in the bottom of the ninth, putting Canisius ahead by just one run.
Graduate hurler Brett Kochanski dished up a game-changing double play to Edwards before getting Kyle Schaefer to strike out swinging to end the contest.
Senior Tom Peltier made his second straight start for Canisius, allowing just one walk over three innings before handing the ball off to sophomore Peyton Consigli.
Consigli fanned five batters over 2.2 frames, yielding just one run.
Kochanski earned his third career save, tossing the final two innings for the Griffs.
Game Notes
• Marshall now leads the all-time series, 5-4-1, after the pair of victories this weekend.
• Morin has struck out 10 batters in 12.0 innings this season, posting a 2.25 ERA.
• DeStefano and junior Max Grant collected their 38th and 39th multi-hit contests of their career on Saturday.
• The backstop duo of redshirt sophomore JT Ennen and Cisco combined to go 1-4 with one run and four walks across the twinbill.
Up Next
• Canisius travels to the Buckeye State for a series against Kent State March 17-19. First pitch Friday is slated for 3 p.m. from Olga Mural Field at Schoonover Stadium.
For complete coverage of Canisius baseball, please follow @griffsbaseball on Instagram and Twitter.
