Fire sirens blared in the area behind Demske Complex, but they might have been going to the wrong place.
UB swept both games of a doubleheader with the Golden Griffins and torched their cross-town rivals all day long on Wednesday afternoon.
The high powered offensive was courtesy of the entire team. The Bulls received some production from a lot of the role players, which was uncharacteristic of a team with only three wins going into the game.
In game one, Buffalo (5-13) used a productive sixth inning to put the Griffins (0-10) away as they went on to a 14-2 win.
Reliever Dave Brozyna earned his first win of the year. He pitched the shutout giving up just two hits and striking out three over 3.1 innings.
It was the offense, however, that did most of the work. Joe Mihalics went 3-5 at the plate with four RBIs while James Kingsley led UB with a team-high five RBIs on two homeruns.
Al Barbato drew a walk to start the game off and Phil Vanhorne singled. Mihalics then hit a towering three-run shot to jump to the early lead. The Bulls etched another run when Steve Legrett scored on a passed ball to make it 4-0.
The Griffs tried to battle back in the third when they loaded the bases, but UB starting pitcher Jeff Loveys stranded all three runners when he struck out Gabe Baida to end the inning. On the game, Canisius amassed a total of 11 runners left on base.
With two outs in the fourth inning, Loveys walked two batters to load the bases, then walked another to put the Griffs' first run on the board. That ended a solid day for Loveys, who struck out six and gave up three hits.
In relief Brozyna walked home another to bring the Griffins within two at 4-2. He ended the inning by getting Kevin Smith to fly out.
UB answered right back in the fifth. Mihalics led off with a single, though Canisius pitcher Michael Rees got the next two outs. Chris McGraw reached base with a throwing error to first to score Mihalics, allowing Kingsley to capitalize as he smashed a two-run homer over the leftfield wall.
UB's biggest offensive output came in the sixth when they went around the batting order in the inning to score seven runs on seven hits, taking a 14-2 lead. McGraw, Vanhorne, Mihalics and Legrett each hit RBI doubles. Kingsley added a three-run homer, his second of the game.
UB Takes the Nightcap
The nightcap between the Griffins and Bulls was closer than the blowout in the first game, but Buffalo still managed to grab the victory from Canisius by a 10-5 margin.
UB's reliever Eric Kelly and starter Mark Tourangeau both struck out four and allowed just three hits each. It was Kelly though, who earned his first win of the season in four innings of work.
Vanhorne again played a vital role to lead the visiting Bulls with three RBIs. He had a sacrifice fly and a two-run single on the game.
The Golden Griffins built up an early 3-1 lead by scoring two runs in the second and one in the third, but UB battled back to tie it at 3-3 by the fourth.
Buffalo pulled away in the fifth with six runs. Mihalics singled, and Legrett reached on an error. A Kingsley sacrifice fly and a triple from Wengert followed by Vanhorne's two run single upped the margin to 9-3 in an inning where Canisius used three pitchers to try and stop the bleeding.
Baida's two-out triple scored two to make it 9-5, but that was as close as they would get because UB went on to add an insurance run in the top of the seventh off a sac-fly from Vanhorne.
Buffalo's next competition will be at noon on March 31 when they visit LeMoyne for a doubleheader.
Photo: Courtesy of SUNY
