It was only a matter of time before the Buffalo men's baseball team won a close game. The Bulls have lost six games this season but finally changed their fortune this weekend by taking two out of three games from Mid-American Conference foe Western Michigan.
Buffalo (5-24, 4-8 MAC) took the first game of the weekend on Friday afternoon in a dramatic 12 inning battle, defeating the Broncos (9-18, 4-6 MAC) 5-4. The Bulls finished the contest with a season-high 18 hits, four coming off the bat of sophomore designated hitter Chris Ciesla to lead the team.
However, junior second baseman Mike Folli stole the show with his late game heroics, blasting a double to right field, bringing freshman catcher William Sonnie around for the winning run.
Western Michigan used four third inning hits to jump out to an early 2-0 lead. The Bulls struck back with a run in the fourth inning and found themselves trailing 3-2 going into the seventh. An error by the Broncos allowed the Bulls to take a one run lead, but only momentarily.
A Bronco run in the eighth tied the game at four. Sonnie drew a lead off walk in the ninth and advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt. Folli provided the final blow, bringing Sonnie in for the winning run.
"Mike (Folli) has done a great job in the leadoff spot all year," said Bulls head coach Ron Torgalski. "He really works pitchers. Makes the guy throw him something to handle. It's important to get the leadoff guy on and get some confidence for our team."
Saturday the Bulls and Broncos played a double-header, with the Bulls earning back-to-back victories for the first time this season. The victory gives the Bulls four MAC wins on the season and pulls them into fourth-place in the MAC East Division.
Junior pitcher Mark Tourangeau went six plus innings, recording eight strikeouts and allowing only one run on four hits. Sophomore pitcher Steve Geltz came out of the bull pen in the seventh inning to preserve the victory, allowing no runs on just two hits.
"Mark (Tourangeau) has been throwing the ball well," Torgalski said. "He's been improving since the beginning of the year. He missed a year coming off the Tommy John surgery. I think he was trying to be too good with some of this pitches which caused him to walk a few guys. For the most part he was able to keep guys off balance, which is what you have to do. When he had to make some pitches he did, that's what we need out of our pitchers."
A big fourth inning propelled the Bulls to the victory as all three of their runs came in the inning. Junior infielder Nick Walczak opened the scoring with a double to left field, scoring freshman outfielder Bobby Pizzuto.
Sophomore second baseman Brad Agustin followed with a two RBI single to left field, bringing around Walczak and sophomore outfielder Eric Flynn to give the Bulls a 3-0 lead.
In the last game of the weekend both teams came up big at the plate, combining for 29 hits and 13 runs, as the Broncos prevailed by a score of 7-6.
Flynn led the Bulls with three RBI's and Folli added three hits, though it just wasn't enough to overcome the Broncos. Western Michigan jumped out to an early 6-2 lead behind a big five run fourth inning.
Buffalo found themselves in position to win the game, down just one run in the ninth inning and two runners on. However, with just one out in the inning and Folli on third, the Bulls were unable to bring him home.
After Tuesday's game was cancelled, the Bulls will look to continue their winning ways this weekend as they travel to face the Ohio Bobcats this weekend.
"The confidence is up," Torgalski said. "The kids are excited. We're 4-8 in conference but our half of the conference has been losing. We're ahead of three other teams right now. Our goal all along is to finish in the top six and make the playoffs. That's still in reach. We're still fighting for that. The next couple of games are huge for us. The kids are excited and playing pretty good baseball now and hopefully it continues."
Photo: Courtesy of Laron Fomby
