Baseball drops two to Eagles

UB baseball came back down the 290 empty handed Tuesday night, losing both games of a doubleheader to Big Four rival Niagara University, 2-1 and 4-3.

"Every game is important but we like to win the ones where we're playing our local guys like Niagara, Canisius, and St. Bonaventure," said head coach Bill Breene. "They take on extra significance. Niagara is a team that we consistently recruit against so we like to get the advantage."

This time around, Niagara (8-17 overall) took advantage in the teams' first meetings of the year.

Sophomore Matt Francavillo pitched all six innings in the first game for the Bulls (11-16 overall), taking his third loss of the season.

Senior Joe Mihalics scored the lone Buffalo run in the top of the third, reaching base on a fielding error by Niagara's shortstop Andrew MacDonald. He was later driven home on a sacrifice fly by junior catcher David Amaro, tying the score at 1-1.

The score remained tied until the bottom of the sixth when Niagara's Michael Medici singled to right and advanced to second on a wild pitch. Niagara centerfielder Jeff Vincent then hit a single past second and advanced on the throw while Medici made his way home to put Niagara ahead, 2-1.

In the seventh, Niagara stopped a UB rally as freshman E.J. Folli hit a two-out grounder to end the first game, stranding senior John Boom on second.

"I thought certainly both games were well pitched and we had opportunities to get on base, get hits and get runs and blow both games open and we just didn't come through," said Breene.

UB had similar problems in game two.

Junior right-hander Sean McWilliams started for the Bulls, striking out eight in four innings and giving up four hits and two runs.

In the top of the fifth, with the Purple Eagles up 2-0, a Mike Folli bunt was followed by a Niagara error, scoring both Boom and Mihalics. With the score 2-2, sophomore Dan Quinn was intentionally walked, and senior Phil Vanhorne followed with a two-out single to center field, advancing to second on a fielding error.

Mike Folli made his way home on that play, giving the Bulls the lead, 3-2.

Senior left-hander Anthony Marchioli replaced McWilliams in the fifth. Niagara only posted one hit against Marchioli, but freshman Tony Kurtz replaced Marchioli in the bottom of the next inning.

Kurtz gave up an RBI single to Matt Schaefer to tie the score at 3-3, and held the Purple Eagles scoreless into extra innings. In the bottom of the tenth, Niagara put the game away on a MacDonald RBI, scoring Ray Ciancaglini.

Kurtz, originally put in to pitch only the sixth and seventh, pitched a total of four innings, giving up five hits and two runs while striking out four. Kurtz took the loss, dropping his record to 3-1.

Overall, Coach Breene was impressed with his pitching staff and blamed the losses on a lack of offense.

"By large, both our starters, Matt Francavillo in game one and Sean McWilliams in game two, did enough to win but we just didn't get the key hits," said Breene. "It was just a matter of us not getting the timely hits.

Buffalo hopes to get some clutch hitting in their upcoming weekend series against MAC foes the Miami RedHawks. The Bulls travel to Oxford, Ohio for a three-gamer beginning on Friday at 3 p.m.