The baseball team's weekend series against Mid-American Conference opponent the Ball State Cardinals was put on hold for one day due to poor weather conditions. Even the extra day of rest did not help the Bulls in Saturday's doubleheader, as they were out-slugged all weekend.
In the first game of the doubleheader the Bulls (7-19, 2-5 MAC) took an early lead after senior first baseman Nick Walczak led off the fourth inning with a home run. This was Walczak's second hit of the game after doubling in his first at bat.
Ball State (14-9, 3-0 MAC) came back in the bottom of the fourth inning to tie the game. Justin Rogers led off the inning with a double to left field. Kolbrin Vitek drove in Rogers with an RBI single.
Ball State took the lead in the sixth inning when Vitek drove in Wayne Bond for his second RBI of the game. In the seventh inning, the Cardinals would complete their scoring when Bond doubled and drove home Ryan Chenoweth to put them ahead by two runs.
Buffalo was unable to muster any more offense and went on to lose by a score of 3-1.
Buffalo got a strong complete game pitching performance from sophomore Jeffery Hains. Over eight innings, Hains gave up eight hits and one walk. Two out of the three runs scored by the Cardinals were earned.
"Their kids threw well, we haven't swung the bats well in the last week to ten days," said Bulls head coach Ron Torgalski. "We've got a handful of guys struggling right now, we are facing some pretty good pitching and we are not hitting like we should. We are swinging at bad pitches [and] getting ourselves in bad hitting counts, and it is tough hitting pitchers at this level when you are in bad hitting counts."
The Bulls' woes continued in the second game of the day. Buffalo jumped out to an early lead when junior second baseman Brian Randazzo opened the game with a double, and later scored when junior shortstop Jacob Rosenbeck doubled to right, putting the Bulls up 1-0.
The Cardinals then responded in the bottom half of the first. After Zach Dygert hit a sacrifice fly to score Wayne Bond, Ball State scored two more runs with two outs to go ahead 3-1. Vitek hit a triple to score Rogers, who singled earlier in the inning. Jeremy Hazelbaker walked and was able to score after stealing a few bases.
Ball State tacked on three more runs in the second inning, and put the game away by scoring six in the sixth and four in the seventh.
One run was all that Buffalo could muster, and it would not be enough as their pitching gave way to 16 runs on 14 hits. The Cardinals cruised to the easy victory in the nightcap by a score of 16-1.
Buffalo only totaled three hits off of the Cardinals pitching, as starter Brenden Stines went six innings, giving up three hits, two walks, and one earned run. He also struck out seven Buffalo batters.
The Bulls pitching was roughed up in the second game. Starter Mike Stangroom went four innings, allowing four hits, walking four and allowing four earned runs. The bullpen did not fare any better. Dan Francis surrendered six earned runs on seven hits and one walk. Tony Kurtz followed Francis and was attacked for four runs giving up three hits and three walks.
"We weren't making pitches early. We weren't making pitches late," Torgalski said. "We need consistency at the plate. We need guys that are capable of hitting it to step up and start producing for us."
Buffalo looks to play their first game at the Amherst Audobon Field on Wednesday, April 9 against cross-town rival Niagara. First pitch is scheduled for 3 p.m.
Photo: Courtesy of Laron Fomby
