It may not seem like baseball weather here in Buffalo, NY, however Division-1 NCAA baseball programs across the country began their road to Omaha this past weekend. The Canisius Golden Griffs(2-2, 0-0) began their season with a four-game set against the Pittsburgh Panthers(2-2, 0-0) in Florida while the Niagara Purple Eagles(0-4, 0-0) trekked down to Cullowhee, NC to battle the Western Carolina Catamounts(4-0, 0-0) on Opening Weekend.
The 2021 season was interesting for both the Canisius and Niagara programs as they both participated in MAAC-only play. Even their few “non-conference” games were played with other MAAC schools as teams continued to navigate the COVID-19 pandemic.
Both schools were about .500 throughout the season, however Canisius was just one game away from winning the conference tournament to earn a trip to the NCAA tournament. The Golden Griffs will look to build on that late-season run as they were projected to finish third in the MAAC preseason poll.
Canisius splits Opening Weekend
Like most northeast schools, Canisius began their season down south for Opening Weekend but played another northeast foe in the ACC’s Pitt. The Griffs took an early lead in game one-of-four and then never looked back for an 11-3 victory. Graduate student and Williamsville East alum Mike Steffan began his hot weekend on Friday with a pair of home runs and five RBI.
Sophomore Matt Duffy earned the nod on Opening Day after dominate late season performances including a one-run complete game against Fairfield in the MAAC tournament. The righty from Burlington, ON shut Pitt down until allowing two runs in the sixth frame.
The game was already over at that point as the Griffs started the year with an 11-3 victory. Those runs became much harder to come by in Saturday’s double-header as the Griffs only had two runners cross the plate in their two losses.
A Sunday bounce-back was led again by the bats. Canisius found themselves down 3-0 after the first, but the bats went on a stretch of five-straight innings of scoring at least 2 runs en route to a 15-7 victory and series split.
Steffan’s bat caught fire again Sunday as he finished the series 9-for-17 with three dingers and 10 RBI which is tied for third in the nation. Across 86 at-bats in Steffan’s 2021 season, he hit as many home runs as he did in just the Opening Weekend. The Griffs will hope their bats stay hot down south as they prepare for a four-game set with the Morehead State Eagles(1-3, 0-0).
Niagara’s Opening Weekend to Forget
Things got off on the exact opposite end of the spectrum for Niagara as they were run ruled in each of their four games against WCU. In fact, Niagara has the worst run differential in the NCAA D-1 level right now at minus-60.
WCU should be a solid mid-major team as they are ranked 36th in Sonny Moore’s Power Rankings, which is essentially KenPom for college baseball, but you still would have liked to see more fight out of Niagara to keep a few of the games close. The Purple Eagles are currently ranked 294th-of-301 Division-1 programs.
The Purple Eagles will have an easier matchup as they will take on UNC-Asheville(0-3, 0-0) for a four-game set this weekend. The Bulldogs also had a tough Opening Weekend test with Virginia Tech, so it will be interesting to see how these more evenly talented teams matchup.
Bonas prepares for their Opening Weekend
The last WNY team to kick off their season is St. Bonaventure(0-0, 0-0) as they begin a trip down in Florida. The Bonnies have two games scheduled with Marshall(1-3, 0-0) and Merrimack(0-0, 0-0) this weekend before taking on Florida Gulf Coast(2-2, 0-0) in the mid-week.
2021 was a tough season for the Bonnies as they finished just 7-24. Bonas was filled with a pretty young roster compared to most of the country. Another year’s worth of experience should help them contend in the A-10, a conference that very rarely ever has back-to-back champions.
Be sure to stay tuned for weekly updates on all our WNY baseball programs throughout the spring and the Road to Omaha! You can follow me over on Twitter at @TyBuffalo and everything Trainwreck at @Trainwrecksprts.
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