The third and fourth games of a four-game series at Marshall failed to entertain as much as the previous two, which included countless rallies, ties, lead changes and late-inning heroics.
Buffalo baseball won the first game on Friday, 8-7, and lost both sides of a Saturday doubleheader by scores of 10-9 and 20-3. The Bulls came back Sunday looking for the series split, only to be disappointed with a 13-7 loss.
Game one featured a late-inning comeback capped by the biggest hit of freshman third baseman Jacob Rosenbeck's young career. In the top of the seventh inning, with the bases loaded, Buffalo trailed by two runs when Rosenbeck blasted a grand slam over the right centerfield fence and gave the Bulls a 7-5 lead.
"Rosenbeck's was a huge clutch hit with the bases loaded," said Bulls head coach Bill Breene. "He's a freshman. We're hitting in the three-hole. He's got good power and swings the bat well. He's going to be a good MAC baseball player."
In the opener, the Herd (4-5) jumped on the scoreboard early. Marshall took a 1-0 lead when a throwing error by junior catcher Dan Quinn allowed senior leftfielder Chris Monaco to score moments after he advanced to third base on a wild pitch.
Sophomore shortstop Mike Folli led off the top of the fourth inning with a homerun that tied the score at one run apiece, but the Herd reclaimed the lead in the bottom half of the inning. Marshall scored two runs to go ahead 3-1 and added two more in the fifth.
The Bulls (3-6) trailed 5-1 but erased the deficit when they exploded for six runs in the seventh inning. Senior left fielder David Amaro started the rally with a single through the left side of the infield and later scored on a double by freshman rightfielder James Piazza. Rosenbeck's grand slam followed and capped off the six-run inning.
Marshall chased sophomore starting pitcher Shane Wolf from the game in the bottom half of the inning. The Herd then used a two-run homerun to tie the game at seven runs apiece.
Buffalo answered right back when Quinn connected with a pitch for a solo homerun that gave the Bulls the lead for good.
"We've got guys capable of hitting the long ball," Breene said. "Marshall's field is not a pitcher-friendly park. Balls traditionally get out of there pretty quick. The field itself lends to giving up a bunch of home runs."
After the win on Friday, the Bulls looked to add another victory in the first game of a doubleheader on Saturday. Buffalo sent ace Sean McWilliams to the mound, but the Herd again got out of the gate quickly. Marshall scored three runs in the first and led 8-3 after just four innings and finished the game with a 10-8 win.
In the second game of the twin bill, costly Buffalo mistakes, and timely hitting for Marshall contributed to their 20-3 shellacking of the Bulls. As a team, Buffalo committed five errors in the field, and an amazing 13 of the Herd's 20 runs were unearned.
"Everything went wrong," Breene said. "Our pitchers were struggling, we gave up walks and made errors, and Marshall hit the ball as well. Immediately after the game, I told them 'remember what this felt like, and never let it happen again.' "
The fourth and final game provided Buffalo a chance to get back on track and leave Huntington, W.Va. with a split in the series despite such a demoralizing loss the day before.
After the Bulls failed to score in the first, Marshall's bats picked up right where they left off the day before.
The Herd doubled Buffalo's scoring output over the first three innings, and entered the fourth with an 8-4 lead. Reminiscent of the first two games in the series, the Bulls mounted a comeback with a run in the fourth and two more in the fifth. Marshall's lead was cut to just 8-7, but a strong effort by the Herd's bullpen held Buffalo scoreless over the last four innings of the game.
"We played with them until the eighth inning," Breene said. "We just ran out of arms on Sunday. We were in striking distance. We could have used some options to go to in the seventh or eighth."
Leading 9-7 in the eighth, Marshall used a four-run inning to put the game out of reach for a 13-7 victory and to take the series' three games to one.
The Bulls will travel to Hattiesburg, Miss., this weekend as they look to snap their three-game skid. Buffalo will battle Southern Mississippi in a three-game series with games scheduled for Friday at 6:30 p.m., Saturday at 3 p.m. and the series finale Sunday at 1 p.m.
Photo: Courtesy of Laron Fomby
