Birthday boy Josh Sawatzky threw a four-hit shutout with nine strikeouts Friday night.

FISHKILL, N.Y. – The Niagara University baseball team (25-27) posted its second-straight shutout of the 2005 Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Tournament with a 3-0 win Friday night over Siena College (29-23), advancing it to the program’s first ever tournament title game.

The No. 4 seed Purple Eagles play No. 1 seed Marist College at 1 p.m. Saturday in the double elimination tournament. Niagara will have to beat the Red Foxes twice to earn its first ever berth into the NCAA Tournament. Marist is undefeated in the tournament while Niagara’s lone loss was to the Red Foxes, 3-2, Thursday.

The Purple Eagles got strong performances on the mound from junior James Avery (Moose Jaw, Sask.) and sophomore Dan Griffin (Schenectady, N.Y.) in their first two games, and Friday night’s performance by sophomore Josh Sawatzky (Altona, Man.) was no different. The righthander celebrated his 20th birthday with a four-hit shutout with nine strikeouts in nine innings of work. The Niagara pitching corp has thrown 18 scoreless innings and have a combined 0.68 ERA, allowing 12 hits and striking out 31.

Junior Andrew MacNevin (St. Catherines, P.E.I.) had the game-winning single in the third inning. Sophomore Brian Clifford (Cheektowaga, N.Y.) and junior Dan Parsons (Liverpool, N.Y.) drew back-to-back walks and then scored on MacNevin’s single between shortstop and third base.

Niagara’s third run came in the sixth inning when junior Mike Medici (Latham, N.Y.) got on with a walk, went to second and third on back-to-back fielder’s choices and scored on a wild pitch.

MacNevin, Medici, senior Reed Eastley (Brandon, Man.) and Clifford accounted for Niagara’s four hits on the night.