STATEN ISLAND, NY – Monmouth allowed four eighth-inning runs to Canisius and eventually fell to the Griffs in the MAAC Tournament Friday afternoon, 7-4. Shaine Hughes (Sewell, NJ/Washington Township) hit his team-leading eighth home run of the season in the third inning. MU will play in an elimination game tonight at 7:00 p.m.

Canisius jumped to a 1-0 lead thanks to consecutive extra base hits to open the game, but James Kelly (Oceanport, NJ/Shore Regional) limited the damage, stranding two Griffs in scoring position. The Hawks got the run back in the bottom half on Pete Papcun's (Brick, NJ/Christian Brothers Academy) RBI ground out. Canisius had chances to take the lead but MU recorded outfield assists in consecutive innings, including John LaRocca (Plainview, NY/St. Dominic) cutting down the lead run at the plate in the third.

Hughes gave the Hawks the lead with his team-leading eighth home run of the season in the third, hitting it into the trees down the right field line. Canisius answered in the fifth, scoring twice to tie the game on a Ryan Stekl RBI single and swiping home on a double steal.

Papcun put MU back on top in the home seventh with a bloop single, but Canisius responded with four in the eighth to take a 7-4 lead. Canice Ejoh got the game tied with a sacrifice fly, and John Conti and Christ Conley followed with run-scoring singles, with Conti's scoring a pair to give the Griffs the lead for good.

NOTES
-Monmouth dropped its first game to a MAAC opponent since May 11 vs. Siena.
-Shaine Hughes homered and is now tied for the team lead with eight.
-Hughes and Papcun combined to drive in all four Monmouth runs.
-Mike Brambilla has now struck out all three batters he has faced in the tournament.

NUMBERS CRUNCH
-All four Canisius runs in the eighth were unearned.
-The Griffs outhit the Hawks 14-7.
-Canisius made three errors to Monmouth's one.
-Tyler Smith earned his third win for Canisius, while Austin Counsellor suffered his third loss.

UP NEXT
-Monmouth will play in an elimination game tonight at 7:00 p.m. against the winner of #2 Quinnipiac and #4 Siena, which will begin at 4:05 p.m.