(Presque Isle, ME) The SUNY Canton Men’s baseball team dominated day two of the series versus the University of Maine at Presque Isle, shutting out the Owls in game one by a score of 16-0, and upending them in game two 17-5. The wins bring the Roos some great momentum heading into a two-day series against SUNY Plattsburgh this week.

Game one on Sunday saw the Roos take control in the first inning and easily maintain that power throughout all seven. Scoring six runs in the first, leadoff batter Gerardo Torres (Stafford, Va.) hit a solo home run to start the game. The hits kept piling up and the Roos batted around the order, scoring Chris Jones (Deerfield Beach, Fla.), Jared Marckese (Lecanton, Fla.), Jordan Hunneyman (Redwood, NY), Tom Darling (Oswego, NY), and Will McIntyre (Ottawa, Ontario). The Roos hot bats forced a pitching change in the first inning and their strong defense led to a four-batter inning in the bottom of the first, leaving the score 6-0 after one.

The bats warmed up again in the fourth with singles early in the inning by Chris Jones, Marckese, and Hunneyman, whose hit sent Jones home and advanced Marckese to second. An error by the right fielder on McIntyre’s at bat brought home Marckese and Hunneyman. Dylan Casselman (Brockville, Ontario) hit a single that scored McIntyre. The Roos offense once again cause a pitching change in the inning, while the great pitching of Zach Rosenthal (Miami, Fla.) combined with focused defense of the Roos saw only five batters in the bottom of the fourth. The inning ended with a score 10-0.

Scoring in the fifth inning were Torres and Steve Cano (Miami, Fla.). In the seventh the Roos had another hot inning as they went out strong against the Owls. Hunneyman once again continued his offensive streak with a double. Mike Zelyez (Brasher Falls, NY) brought home Hunneyman and a hit by Keith Harley (Carthage, NY) scored Zelyez. Josh Jones hit a single, advancing Harley, and Casselman hit another single scoring Harley and advancing Jones. Santini was walked and the bases were loaded when Rich Flood (Staten Island, NY) came to bat and sent Josh Jones home on a fielding error by the third baseman, ending the seventh inning with four runs and a score of 16-0. Rosenthal made quick work of their batters in the bottom of the seventh and the Roos went into game two of the series with a decisive and dominating win over the Owls.

Stats from the game saw both Hunneyman and Casselman going three-for-five at the plate, and Hunneyman batted three runs in and scored three himself while Casselman had two RBIs. Leadoff man Torres went two-for-four with two runs and one RBI, Marckese went three-for-four, scoring two and hitting one RBI, and Chris Jones went two-for-three, scoring two runs.

Controlling the mound for the outing, Rosenthal pitched all seven innings, allowing only six hits while striking out three.

Game two of the doubleheader saw more of the same hot bats and great defense from the Roos. The first inning batting from the Roos saw the first three hitters, Torres, Chris Jones and Marckese, all hit singles, with Torres scoring on the Marckese hit. Chris Jones scored on a fielder’s choice from Darling’s at bat and the top of the first ended with the Roos up 2-0. The Owls came back with a run in the first and would not score again until the fifth inning. On the mound for Canton was John Mancini (Scotia, NY) who pitched six innings in the outing.

The second inning saw lead-off batter Torres score on a RBI single from Marckese. The third inning had lots of offensive action with Casselman hitting a single that brings around Darling and McIntyre. Mancini quieted the Owls attempts by going one-two-three at the bottom of the third. The Roos saw another great inning in the fourth, with singles hit by Chris Jones and Marckese, who were brought home by a three-run homer by steady performer Jordan Hunneyman.

The fifth inning things really heated up on both sides of the scorebook. Singles were hit by Phil Tsiaras (Toronto, Ontario), Casselman, and Torres, who advanced Tasiaras across the plate. Casselman stole home and Torres moved to second base on a swinging strike from Chris Jones at the plate, who consequently hit a double scoring Torres. Also scoring for Canton in the fifth were Chris Jones, Hunneyman, Josh Jones, and Harley for a seven run inning. UMPI mounted a comeback with four runs in the fifth, but it fell too short as the Roos handled it easily and scored two more runs in the top of the seventh, by Josh Jones and Tasiaras.

The Roos had 20 hits in game two and 15 runs batted in. Leading the way offensively for Canton were Torres who went four-for-six, scoring three runs with two runs batted in, Chris Jones went three-for-five, scoring three runs and batting in one, Marckese went three-for-five, batting two runs in and scoring one himself, and Casselman who was three-for-four, batting in four runs and scoring and scoring one.

Mancini pitched six innings for the Roos, allowing only nine hits for five runs, while striking out three. Relieving Mancini for the seventh was Zelyez, who struck out two.

SUNY Canton baseball is next in action on Tuesday May 1 against SUNY Plattsburgh in Plattsburgh, NY. The single game starts at 7:00pm. You can follow the action on Twitter @RoosBaseball or on their stats website www.iscorecast.com ID number 227D0AA479.

Roos baseball has only one home contest this year, a doubleheader versus SUNY Plattsburgh on Wednesday May 2nd with the first pitch being thrown at 1:00. Come out and support the Roos as we honor senior pitcher Josh Soffer on his last home game in a SUNY Canton uniform.