Many students look forward to taking a traditional spring break road trip. The UB baseball team, however, was just looking forward to finally hosting its first series while school was out.
Unfortunately, Mother Nature had other plans, forcing Buffalo's series with Marshall University last weekend to be moved to Huntington, W.Va. The change turned the Bulls' "break" into a six-game road trip during which the team went 1-5 to bring their record to 6-9 (1-2 MAC).
GMU Series
The Bulls got off to a shaky start, going 1-3 against the George Mason University Patriots (9-15) in back-to-back doubleheaders two weekends ago, March 23-24, in Fairfax, Va.
In the first game Saturday, Bulls starter Mark McMahon was given an early exit by the Patriots as they touched him for six runs in just three innings.
The Bulls went on to lose the game 8-1, managing just five hits off of GMU's John Sterling. Buffalo's John Boom had the lone RBI with a single in the sixth that drove in Bryan Sanchez.
The night game came down to pitching as Tyler Balentine of Buffalo battled it out with Stacen Gant of the Patriots. Balentine got his first win of the season; the Bulls took the extra-inning game 4-1.
Sunday morning Buffalo's offense was virtually silent as they managed just one unearned run and only 8 hits, losing the game 4-1.
In the series finale, Patriots starter Chris Murray shut UB out in a 10-0 win. For Buffalo, DiCesare, Mihalics, Sanchez and pinch hitter Joe Todoro had a hit apiece.
Buffalo squandered a golden opportunity to retain a share of first place in the MAC Saturday losing both ends of a doubleheader to Marshall, 4-0 and 7-6.
The Bulls started Mike Leslie (0-3) in game one and went through the first four innings without giving up a run. In the fifth inning, Marshall's Craig Dziedziejko brought in the first run with a sacrifice fly. After loading the bases, Leslie gave up a base-clearing double to Ryan Kobbe.
Marshall won 4-0 despite being out-hit 5-3. Jordan Alcott had a double and Leslie struck out six in the losing effort.
Game two was a wide-open affair with both teams exchanging the lead. Marshall jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first after RBIs by Matt White and Dziedziejko.
At the bottom of the third inning, UB's Brandon DiCesare tied the score at two with a two-run double, extending his hitting streak to an impressive 10 games.
The Bulls stranded two runners in each of the last two innings, and couldn't tie the game. Marshall took the second game 7-6 and sole possession of first in the MAC with a 3-2 divisional record.
Buffalo will next take on Kent State in a four-game series beginning Friday at 3 p.m. at the Amherst Pepsi Center Field.
