This weekend was anything but a walk in the ballpark for the UB baseball team. The Bulls dropped two of three games to the Bowling Green Falcons in a series that started Friday at Bowling Green's Warren Stellar Field.
"I thought it was a very competitive series," said Bulls' head coach Bill Breene. "Bowling Green, they're a team that's usually in the playoffs every year. At the end of the games we said if we keep playing the way that we're playing, we're going to do really well."
The Bulls (11-14 overall, 1-3 Mid-American Conference) managed to score just one run off 12 hits to lose the series opener Friday afternoon, 7-1. Senior shortstop Joe Mihalics and sophomore catcher Dan Quinn led the Bulls, each posting three hits against the Falcons.
The Falcons (20-8 overall, 5-4 MAC) started strong, scoring two runs in the second inning. In the fifth inning, two-time UB MVP Mihalics hit his fourth home run of the season to cut the Falcons lead to 2-1. Bowling Green struck back in the bottom of the fifth on sacrifice bunt by Kevin Longstreth, bringing the man on third home and Bowling Green's lead back to two.
The Falcons replaced starting pitcher Alan Brech with Burke Badenhop in the sixth and Mihalics singled to lead off the inning. A bunt caused the senior to be picked off at second, bringing up senior James Kingsley. After walking the first baseman and giving up a double to Quinn, the Falcons, with the leading run at the plate, brought in closer Matt Hundley who struck out the next batter to end the inning.
Senior Chris McGraw was on the mound for the first seven innings, allowing only three earned runs. McGraw headed back to the dugout for the final time after allotting Bowling Green just nine hits and five runs while striking out four batters and walking one. Sophomore Matt Francavillo finished the game for the Bulls.
After three doubles to start off the eighth, the Falcons increased their lead to 7-1, scoring four runs in the inning.
Hundley closed the game by shutting out the Bulls in the final two innings, giving the Falcons the win and recording his third save of the year.
After suffering a crushing loss the day before, the Bulls answered back, defeating the Falcons 6-4.
Buffalo's scoring began in the second inning, starting with sophomore catcher Quinn's leadoff infield single. Junior designated hitter Aaron Otto followed with another single, and an error by the pitcher loaded the bases for the Bulls. A single by Phil Vanhorne brought Quinn home. Otto scored on a sacrifice fly and senior John Boom scored catcher David Amaro. A single by freshman Mike Folli scored Boom to end the four run inning.
The Falcons were able to answer in the bottom of the second, making the score 4-1, but the Bulls responded quickly with a two-run homer by Amaro in the third, his second of the year.
Bowling Green tacked on two more runs in the third, making it 6-3 but was then held scoreless until the seventh.
Buffalo's pitching was a force, led by sophomore starter Adam Ruszkowski who tied a UB record with his fourth win of the season. Ruszkowski pitched 6 2/3 innings allowing nine hits, three walks and four runs, only three of which were earned. When faced with bases loaded and one out in the bottom of the sixth, Ruszkowski was able to induce a crucial double play to end the inning.
Freshman Tony Kurtz recorded his first career save after coming in with two outs and two men on in the bottom of the seventh. Kurtz ended the inning with a popup fly and shut out the Falcons in both the eighth and ninth, solidifying the win. Kurtz finished with four strikeouts in just over two innings.
The third game saw the Bulls drop a 1-0 pitcher's duel to the Falcons. Matt Johnson pitched a five-hitter for UB, walking four and striking out three. The only run Johnson gave up was off a first inning walk with the bases loaded and no outs. He settled down after that to get three straight outs, not giving up another run for the rest of his eight innings of work.
As solid as Johnson was, Burke Badenhop was even better. Badenhop pitched a complete game shutout, striking out nine and walking only three. He gave up only four hits for the game.
"One of our best pitching performances all year resulted in a loss, we just weren't able to score a run, their pitcher pitched one hell of a game," said Breene.
Despite dropping two out of three to their MAC rival, coach Breene was impressed with the Bulls' performance against a perennially good team.
"We're playing good baseball, we would've liked to come out of this winning this series, but there's really nothing negative I can say about the way that we played," he said.
Buffalo will travel cross-town for a game against their Big 4 rival, Niagara, Tuesday at 6 p.m.
Photo: Courtesy of Matthew Messina, from the RMBERS' Instagram page
