After winning two of three games over the weekend, the Buffalo baseball team (11-26, 4-10 Mid-American Conference) looked to stay on a hot streak as it hosted a doubleheader against St. Bonaventure on Tuesday, and traveled to Niagara to take on the Purple Eagles Wednesday. The Bulls split with St. Bonaventure, winning the first game 3-2 but dropping the nightcap 11-1, and lost 10-6 to Niagara.
In game one against the Bonnies (20-16), Buffalo fell behind in the first inning after a pair of walks helped set up an RBI single by Nick Cunliffe. In the bottom half of the inning, the Bulls answered back as junior shortstop Jacob Rosenbeck hit a two-out single and later scored on junior right fielder Chris Ciesla's RBI single. Ciesla then gave the Bulls the lead as he scored after a pair of St. Bonaventure errors.
St. Bonaventure tied the game in the top of the fifth, but in the bottom half of the inning, junior second baseman Brian Randazzo led off with a bunt single and sophomore left fielder Adam Skonieczki followed with an infield hit. They both advanced on a groundout, and Randazzo would give the Bulls the lead as he scored on a groundout by Ciesla.
With the lead in hand, junior Steve Geltz came in to pitch a scoreless sixth and seventh innings and picked up his sixth save of the season.
"He's our guy to go to at the end of the game," said head coach Ron Torgalski. "He's been effective all year and if we can get through seven innings, we're confident he can come in and finish the game."
In the second game of the doubleheader, the Bulls again fell behind early as St. Bonaventure plated seven runs in the second inning and added three more in the third. Buffalo's only run came in the bottom of the third as sophomore third baseman Shivam Bhan hit a single through the right side to score Skonieczki. Sophomore pitcher Chaz Mye controlled the damage that was done early as he pitched the final 4.2 innings for the Bulls and allowed no hits and one unearned run while striking out two.
Although the Bulls only scored one run, they did manage ten hits in the losing effort.
"Clutch hitting was a huge problem," Torgalski said. "We had a lot of hits and a lot runners on but we needed guys to step up and hit at the right time but they didn't."
Wednesday night the Bulls traveled to Niagara (17-18) to take on the Purple Eagles in another non-conference matchup. Both teams were scoreless for the first three and a half innings until Niagara took the lead in the fourth on a pair of unearned runs. They added another run in the fifth and three more in the sixth to take a 6-0 lead.
After Randazzo and senior left fielder E.J. Folli led off with a pair of walks in the eighth, senior first baseman Nick Walczak loaded the bases after being hit by a pitch. Randazzo plated the Bulls first run on a RBI ground out by Ciesla. Bhan followed with an RBI single that drove in Folli. Ciesla cut the lead to 6-3 scoring the third run of the inning on a sacrifice fly by sophomore Charlie Karstedt. In the bottom half of the inning, Niagara responded with four runs to increase the lead to 10-3.
The Bulls fought back in the ninth inning to make the game a little more interesting. After senior infielder Tony Fuller reached on an error to start the inning, Randazzo and Walczak walked to load the bases. Ciesla followed with a ground rule double that scored both Fuller and Randazzo. Walczak scored on a sacrifice fly by Bhan. Despite cutting the lead to 10-6 in the ninth, the rally fell short as a strike out ended the game.
"These guys don't quit and they've fought back all year, but you just can't put yourself in that position," Torgalski said of the late inning rallies.
Junior Zach Anderson gave Buffalo five strong innings on the mound, giving up just one earned run on five hits while striking out two.
After going 1-2 over the three game stretch, the Bulls' record now stands at 11-26. Buffalo continues MAC play this weekend as they host three games against the Akron Zips. The first game is scheduled for Friday at 3 p.m. Games two and three will be played on Saturday and Sunday.
Photo: Courtesy of Laron Fomby
