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Baseball - Buffalo Opens up Big4 Play with the Griffs

Only thing more important than winning in the MAC is winning against the Big-4

UB Athletics

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.

Buffalo at Canisius

Buffalo
Record: 12-10 (2-1 MAC)

Canisius
Record: 15-7 (1-2 MAAC)

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Rank Buffalo Category Canisius Rank
143 0.268 Batting Average 0.308 20
127 5.4 Scoring 7.3 19
133 119 Runs 160 36
166 196 Hits 228 68
118 1.68 Doubles Per Game 2.05 41
118 37 Doubles 45 59
83 0.32 Triples Per Game 0.45 22
72 7 Triples 10 21
50 0.59 Home Runs Per Game 0.45 99
57 13 Home Runs 10 93
86 0.392 Slugging Percentage 0.436 33
169 0.95 Stolen Bases Per Game 2.14 21
165 21 Stolen Bases 47 16
73 94 Base on Balls 99 61
44 23 Sacrifice Bunts 23 44
84 28 Hit by Pitch 42 10
33 13 Sacrifice Flies 6 199
115 3.92 Earned Run Average 4.29 151
186 6.4 Strikeouts Per Nine Innings 6.9 133
103 8.84 Hits Allowed Per Nine Innings 9.06 133
173 3.92 Walks Allowed Per Nine Innings 3.02 52
200 0.959 Fielding Percentage 0.961 172
135 0.77 Double Plays Per Game 0.68 181
125 17 Double Plays 15 162
93 0.368 On Base Percentage 0.416 10
185 1.63 Strikeout-to-Walk Ratio 2.27 75
117 0.545 WL Pct 0.682 51
126 1.42 WHIP 1.34 91