Circling the bases was no problem for the baseball team on Wednesday. The players only had to trot.
The problem is that's all they did.
Buffalo (7-12, 1-2 Mid-American Conference) homered four times in Wednesday's 8-6 loss, but the small ball style of Canisius (13-13), was too much for the Bulls. The team was only able to muster eight hits in the mid-week matinee, and all six of its runs came via the long ball.
"I thought we had some good at bats," said head coach Ron Torgalski. "I thought they made a handful of plays on some balls that we squared up and hit right at them. The shortstop took a couple hits away from us and that can be demoralizing. You're trying to get a rally going and come back and you hit the ball right at somebody. But that's baseball, some days they're falling, some days they're not."
Buffalo just couldn't string hits together when it needed them. The opposite case could be said for Canisius, as the small ball mentality paid dividends for the Golden Griffins all afternoon.
The home team was consistently able to move runners over and put themselves in position to pressure the Buffalo pitching staff. It worked to perfection, as the Griffs were able to score a pair of runs on wild pitches by junior starter Corey Paige after sacrificing runners to third. They also scored two runs on sacrifice flies.
Paige only lasted three innings on the afternoon, and gave up three earned runs on eight hits.
"I thought he left too many balls up in the zone, and gave them too many good pitches to hit," Torgalski said. "I thought first inning or so he was a little nervous. I know he played with some of the guys on the other team, and a lot of the local guys he's friends with. I thought he was trying too hard to make pitches and missed spots."
Paige was relived by junior lefty Zach Stephens, who only gave up one hit over three innings pitched. The problem is that it was a towering blast by leftfielder Jesse Kelso over the fence in centerfield with two runners on.
Buffalo's bats did the best they could to answer, as junior leftfielder Matt Pollock had a pair of homeruns on the afternoon, including banging one off the left field scoreboard of the Demske Sports Complex.
"Matt's a strong kid," Torgalski said. "He's not going to get overpowered by anyone. I think he's done a great job since we moved him to the top of the order. He's doing a tremendous job getting on, producing, and making things happen and that's what we want at the top of the order."
Both of Pollock's shots were solo, as was a third inning blast by junior first baseman Ryan Tulloch.
Buffalo had a chance late in the game when Michael Burke hit a three-run homer to pull the Bulls within a pair after junior River McWilliams kept the Golden Griffins bats at bay for the final inning and two thirds. That's the closest Buffalo would get.
"I think Riv threw well," Torgalski said. "He's one of those guys who will come in and pound the strike zone. He gave us an opportunity to try and get back in it and see if we could get one."
Buffalo will now jump back into conference play this weekend against Western Michigan (11-10, 3-0 MAC). The next contest will be at an unfamiliar place - home. After 19 straight road contests, it's finally time for Buffalo to have its home opener. The three game weekend series kicks off Friday at 3 p.m.
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