The nice weather at Lee Jackson Field in Akron, Ohio is the only positive thing the baseball team experienced during their games against the Akron Zips on Friday and Saturday.
Trying to make a final push towards a Mid-American Conference (MAC) tournament bid, Buffalo (15-25, 3-13 MAC) faced the red-hot Akron Zips (14-26, 8-9 MAC) for a vital in-conference series. The team was unable to turn their desperation into victories, losing 7-1 in game one and 4-1 in the second game. The two wins extended Akron's wining streak to five games.
In the opening game, Buffalo junior pitcher Pierre Miville-Deschenes faced off against Akron freshman pitcher Andrew Brown, who was making his debut. Miville-Deschenes gave up six earned runs off of nine hits and fell to 4-4 on the year. Brown made an impressive debut and pitched a complete game, earning the win.
The Bulls jumped out to an early lead in the first inning as junior outfielder Rob Lawler singled in junior outfielder Adam Skonieczki to go up 1-0. This was the only lead Buffalo would see on the day as they stranded many runners on base. When it was all said and done, the Bulls scored just once off of 11 hits.
Akron answered to Buffalo's initial run in the bottom of the first with a two-run single by junior catcher Kyle Hallett. Hallett finished the day 2-for-4 with three RBIs and one run scored.
Akron tallied two more runs in the second inning, followed with another run in the third that put the Zips up 5-1. The team's hot hitting continued in the fifth and seventh innings as they added two insurance runs to go up by a final count of 7-1.
In the second game, the Bulls looked to bounce back from their loss and once again grabbed an early lead. In the top of the first inning, Lawler found himself at bat with runners on the corners. A groundout to second base was enough to score junior infielder Brad Agustin and give the Bulls a 1-0 lead.
However, like the day before, the Zips were not discouraged by the Bulls' early strike. In the bottom of the first, Akron loaded the bases and were poised to score. Bulls' senior pitcher Zach Anderson felt the pressure of the base runners and balked in a run to tie the game, 1-1. Sophomore outfielder Brandon White singled in a second run in the ensuing at-bat, putting the Zips up 2-1.
The eerily similar scoring of the first inning was a bad sign that the game would mirror yesterday's outcome. Akron put freshman pitcher Alex Loftin on the hill and hoped for more success from their young staff.
Despite the rocky start, Loftin settled down and only allowed five hits on the day. He pitched six innings and earned his first career MAC victory, improving to 1-1.
Despite a solid effort from the Bulls' pitching staff, the Bulls failed to get things going with the bats. Agustin and senior third baseman Brian Randazzo each hit 2-for-3 on the day, but this wasn't enough offense for a victory.
See Wednesday's issue of The Spectrum for coverage of Sunday's series finale with the Zips.
