Baseball - Buffalo Opens up Big4 Play with the Griffs

After completing an upset win over Central Michigan to open Conference play UB hopes to upend a solid Canisius squad to open up Big 4 play. The Griffs played very well out of conference going into MAAC play at 14-5 but struggled against Saint Peters dropping two games of the three game series.

Buffalo will need Jason Kanzler to continue batting at his high level to stay with the Griffs. Kanzler was a huge part of UB's series win over CMU this past weekend and leads a UB lineup which is a bit more power, and a bit less precision than Canisius. Kanzler's six home runs and 28 RBI's puts him in the top 25 nationally among division one players.

Tomorrow's Starter for Buffalo is Cory Folk. Folk is 2-1 in three starts. He has an ERA of 4.12 and a WHIP of 1.42. His last outing against Dayton Folk pitched a complete game shutout surrendering just two hits and three walks.

The Griffs don't seem to be sluggers in a power sense but Canisius does have five batters hitting over 300 and seven hitting over 250. There is no real weak stretch of the order when you are pitching to them.

Their most dangerous batter is Jimmy Luppens who is batting .468 with 4 home runs and 21 RBI's. Luppens has the highest on base percentage in the Nation, keeping him from putting the Bulls into too many binds will be a real challenge for Folk.

Canisius is not bad at the pitchers mound either. Garret Cortright is their workhorse putting in more than 20% of all innings for the Griffs. he is 5-1 in six appearances with an ERA of 1.51. Their best relief pitcher is John Fizsimmons who has appeared in relief eight times this season earning a 2-0 record and three saves in 14 innings of work. Fizsimmons has yet to surrender a run and is holding opposing batters to a .106 average.