You can only have your heart broken so many times. Unable to pull out close games all season, the Buffalo baseball team knew it was only a matter of time before a close one went their way.
Over the weekend the Bulls played a three game set against Eastern Michigan, winning the second game in dramatic fashion to earn their first Mid-American Conference win of the year.
After losing a close game against the Eagles on Friday afternoon, the Bulls pulled off an extra inning victory in dramatic fashion, winning 2-1 in 12 innings.
"We've been close in a lot of them," said head coach Ron Torgalski. "Just to finally get over the hump against a real good team in league competition. Eastern (Michigan) is usually one of the top five or six teams in the conference. They go the playoffs every year. It was good to finally get over the hump."
Eastern Michigan (7-12, 5-1 MAC) began the scoring in the top of the third inning and Buffalo (2-19, 1-5 MAC) quickly countered in the bottom of the fifth to tie the game at one a piece.
The score would remain tied all the way into the 12th inning before a bit of luck propelled the Bulls to the victory.
Sophomore designated hitter Chris Ciesla led the inning off with a single. Ciesla was able to come around and score the winning run without the Bulls recording another hit. A sacrifice bunt, intentional walk and a hit batsman loaded the bases for the Bulls. Finally a wild pitch to the next batter brought Ciesla around for the 2-1 victory.
Senior pitcher Mike Radanovic came up big for Buffalo, pitching nine strong innings, allowing one run on three hits.
"Mike threw really well," Torgalski said. "We've been expecting that out of Mike. He kept them off balance. He was making good pitches. He went deep into the game and that's what we needed."
Friday night the Bulls came out on the wrong side of a close game losing to the Eagles, 5-3.
Eastern Michigan opened the game with a blast over the right field fence for the first hitter of the game. The Eagles would add another run to take an early 2-0 lead.
Buffalo fought back with runs in the first and third innings, tying the game up at two. After trading runs in the fifth inning, the Eagles were able to retake the lead in the top of the sixth on a two RBI triple to left field.
Despite being down the Bulls continued to fight back, but were unable to muster another run. Over the last three innings the Bulls left six runners on base and left a total of12 for the game.
Junior third baseman Mike Folli finished the game with three hits, two for doubles. Senior pitcher Adam Ruszkowski struck out seven batters in eight innings while allowing five runs.
After two close battles the Bulls were unable to stay close to Eastern Michigan in the third and final game of the series, losing Saturday night's rubber match 8-1.
Buffalo held a 1-0 lead after the first inning, on an RBI single from sophomore shortstop Brad Augustin. The Eagles quickly countered tying the game in the top of the second, and blew the game open with a five run third inning which included five hits and two Buffalo errors.
Folli has been the Bulls best hitter all season, compiling a team high .372 batting average, as well as leading the team in hits and runs scored. In the three games over the weekend, Foley finished 8-13 with four runs scored.
"Mike knows what his job is as a lead off guy," Torgalski said. "To work the pitcher and try to get on base for the guys behind him. He's done a tremendous job this year with that. He's been the one consistent guy in our lineup. He's had some great at bats, hitting it, steals bases for us. He's doing everything you'd expect from a leadoff man."
Wednesday the Bulls will take on local rival Canisius College. The two teams engaged in an infamous brawl last season, with Canisius winning the game 12-4 at Amherst Audubon Field.
"Our team has been taking every game with the same approach and that's to go out and play hard," Torgalski said. "Try to go and get better each day. We've got 15 new guys. They've got 15 new guys. There's not a lot back from the episode last year. None of our guys have even talked about it."
Photo: Courtesy of Laron Fomby
