NEW ROCHELLE, NY — A seven-inning performance from Zachary Sloan helped Canisius College come away with a three-game sweep of Iona College this weekend by claiming today’s finale 2-0.
Sloan allowed just two hits and struck out five in seven scoreless innings for the Griffs (29-18, 12-6 MAAC) before handing the ball off to the bullpen that included Tyler Smith recording his 10th save of the season.
Pat Ryan matched Sloan throughout the first three innings as neither pitcher allowed a hit with the only base runners allowed in the stretch were a pair of walks for the Gaels (17-21, 10-8 MAAC), one to Alex Beckett in the second and another to Jon Budesa in the third.
In the fourth, Canisius recorded the first hit of the game along with the first run. Gage Lanning singled with one out and advanced to second in the next at-bat on a wild pitch. After moving up to third on a groundout, Lanning scored on a wild pitch during Liam Wilson’s at-bat. Iona notched its first hit of the game on a Lou Matarazzo single, however, were not able to produce a run in the bottom half of the inning.
Ryan found his way out of trouble in the fifth as a bunt from Jake Burlingame with runners on the corners was played to the plate as Ryan shufled the ball to Beckett to tag out Mark McKenna to prevent a run. The junior pitcher again worked around two runners in the sixth by producing a pair of ground outs.
Canisius added insurance in the seventh by starting the inning with a walk and a single. Jake Lumley drove in Stephen Bennet with a one out single after Bennett led off the inning with a walk. Ryan once again limited the damage by producing a double play to end the frame.
In the ninth, Iona put two runners on as Brian Picone led off the inning with a single followed by Sean Breen adding a single to right with one out to put Picone on third. However, Smith secured his league leading 10th save by producing a a strikeout and a pop out to end the game.
Prior to today’s contest, seven senior from the Iona baseball program were honored with a brief ceremony. The seniors included Alex Beckett, Matt Byrne, Andrew Camiolo, Jake Kurz, Joseph Lovecchio, Bill Maier and Andrew Pucillo.