In its first game of the season at the Amherst Audobon Field, the baseball team put on a hitting clinic. The Bulls had 13 hits that day and ended the game with a 10-6 victory over the Niagara Purple Eagles.
Junior shortstop Jacob Rosenbeck went 3-5 with two RBIs, while sophomore center fielder Adam Skonieczki was 2-2 with two RBI's and three runs.
Head coach Ron Torgalski was proud of the way the offense played in the game.
"I thought it went well. We came out swinging the bats in the first inning and we swung them all game," Torgalksi said.
Buffalo (8-20) was down in the first inning as the Purple Eagles put up two runs. After driving one run across home in the first, Buffalo scored three in the second inning to take the lead 4-3.
In the second inning, seven Bulls got a piece of Niagara's pitcher. Sophomore designated hitter Trevor Blair started the inning with a single and was driven home by junior second baseman Brian Randazzo's double to center field. Rosenbeck followed with a double of his own to bring in Randazzo. Junior right fielder Chris Ciesla had an RBI single to put Buffalo ahead.
"We were hitting the ball hard today," Torgalski said. "We got a lot of hits with two strikes on us and got a lot of good swings on some pitches that we haven't been hitting lately."
After being shut out in the third, the Bulls tallied another run in the bottom half of the inning. Skonieczki doubled to lead off the left, and senior third baseman Tony Fuller executed a sacrifice bunt to advance Skonieczki to third. Sophomore left fielder Charlie Karstedt flew out to left, allowing Skonieczki to tag up at third and put up another run for the Bulls.
Niagara (12-14) had a couple hits in the fourth inning to tie the game up, 5-5. The Bulls grabbed the lead in the bottom of the fifth and didn't look back. Skonieczki hit a two-run bomb deep to left field, scoring Ciesla, making the score 7-5. Niagara scored one last run in the sixth to close the lead to one.
Despite walking the first batter in each of the first three innings, Buffalo's pitching staff was able to work out jams and keep the Bulls in the lead.
"I thought our pitching did well," Torgalski said. "The only trouble they got in was when they came out and walked the lead-off guy twice and got a hit-by-pitch. Once we got around the plate, we made pitches and that's alright."
In the seventh, Ciesla made it to base on a walk and then moved to second after a wild pitch was thrown by Niagara. Senior first baseman Nick Walczak grounded out to first, but moved Ciesla to third in the process. Skonieczki walked on the next at bat and Fuller blasted a double down the left field line, bringing in both runners to put the Bulls up 9-6.
The Bulls added a little insurance when Rosenbeck singled through the left side, scoring senior catcher Rick Oliveri who singled up the middle.
"The team came with a good approach today, they knew we were struggling with the bats lately and hopefully this will carry over to this weekend," Torgalski said.
Junior Steve Geltz brought the game to a close for the Bulls pitching staff in the last two innings for his fourth save of the season. Geltz shut out the Eagles getting four strikeouts. The winning pitcher was junior James Piazza. Piazza pitched for three innings while also striking out three Purple Eagles. Sophomore Chaz Mye and freshman Jesse Reinstein both saw a little action, both sending batters to the bench. Reinstein also picked off one of Niagara's greedy base runners.
"I thought that each guy that came in threw well and kept it where it needed to be. It was a good all around performance," Torgalski said.
The Bulls head to Western Michigan this weekend for a three game series. The first game is on Friday, April 11 at 3 p.m. Saturday and Sunday's games will be played at 1 p.m.
Photo: Courtesy of Laron Fomby
