SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – The Canisius baseball team saw its 2015 season come to a close on Saturday evening, as the Golden Griffins dropped a pair of games in the Springfield Regional round of the 2015 NCAA Division I Baseball Championship at Hammons Field in Springfield, Mo. Canisius lost the first game of the day to No. 8 Missouri State 14-1, before falling to Oregon 12-6 in an elimination game.
Canisius, which was making its second NCAA Tournament appearance in the last three seasons, ends the 2015 campaign with an overall record of 34-30. The 34 wins mark the sixth 30-win season for the Griffs in the last seven years, and the overall winning mark gives Canisius a winning record for the fourth-straight year and for the sixth time in the last seven seasons.
In the first game, senior Connor Panas got things started right for the Griffs, as he took the second pitch of the game over the fence in right field to put the Blue and Gold up 1-0. That would be all the offense Canisius would muster up on Missouri State starter Jon Harris, as the junor hurler improved to 8-1 on the year after he allowed one run on three hits to go with eight strikeouts in eight innings of work.
The Bears (46-10) led the game 4-1 through five frames, but an eight-run sixth innings, highlighted by a grand slam off the bat of Tate Matheny, put Missouri State up 12-1 after six frames. Canisius senior Devon Stewart took the loss in his final start as a Griff, as he allowed four runs on seven hits while fanning three and walking two in 4.2 innings on the mound. Sophomore Jake Lumley and senior Mike Krische also had hits for the Blue and Gold in the losing effort.
In the second game, the Oregon Ducks (38-24) scored four times in the top of the first and then added single-tallies in innings two through five en route to a 12-6 win over the Griffs. Canisius tried to rally with four runs in the home-half of the fifth to make the score 8-4, but Oregon answered right back in the top-half of the sixth inning with three runs to put the game out of reach for the Blue and Gold.
Freshman J.P. Stevenson took the loss and fell to 7-4 in his rookie campaign after he allowed six runs on six hits to go with three strikeouts in 2.1 innings of action. Canisius banged out 11 hits in the elimination game loss, led by senior Jesse Puscheck, who had three hits, scored a pair of runs and posted an RBI in the losing effort. Junior Anthony Massicci had three hits and was credited with two RBI for the Griffs, while Lumley and freshman Zach Garick also added two hits to the Griffs’ cause.
“This is a pretty resilient group and I really couldn’t be prouder of the way they handled today, all things considered,” Canisius head coach Mike McRae said. “We have gone through an awful lot of adversity on and off the field and those guys did not pack it in at any point. I couldn’t be any prouder of their ability to keep showing up and keep grinding. Heck our season could have been over last week in a game two situation, and they really battled to get here.”
Canisius ends its season having played a total of 64 games, the most in school history.