The UB men's baseball team has just returned from a three-game series this weekend against Georgia Southern. The Bulls (0-6 overall, 0-0 Mid-American Conference), who started the season winless against Kentucky, were hopeful upon embarking on this trip down south.
Unfortunately, the Georgia Southern Eagles had other ideas as to how they would welcome the Bulls into town. In the last game of the series the Eagles stole 10 bases and beat UB 8-5.
"We were all disappointed," said Bulls' head coach Bill Breene "We had played three good games last week at Kentucky but we just couldn't put anything together (against Georgia Southern)."
While the games produced overall disappointing results, there were some bright spots for UB to focus on. Junior James Kingsley went 3-for-4 with two home runs and five RBI. Coach Breene also said that Matt Francavillo, Sean McWilliams, and Chris McGraw had great games. Al Barbato also helped out with a great diving play to give the Bulls a big out late in the game.
"There are three major aspects of the game," Coach Breene said. "Defense, pitching, and hitting the ball consistently. We had a little bit of everything at one time or another, we just didn't put all three together."
One major problem the Bulls will look to correct over the coming weeks is how the Eagles were able to compile 10 stolen bases throughout that game. Two things went wrong this weekend that allowed that to take place.
"Not only do the catchers need to throw out the runners at base, but the pitchers need to work on keeping the runners close to the bag, along with mixing up their tempo and delivery more," said Breene.
Despite not starting the season off the way they had hoped, the UB coaching staff is still very optimistic about what the Bulls are capable of down the stretch, especially pertaining to the pitching staff.
"Overall we do have what I consider to be the most depth on the mound during the five years of having this program," said Breene.
The Bulls' coaching staff says that UB has five or six solid starting pitchers along with three or four relievers who can get the team out of tough innings.
Though the Bulls have started the season off slowly, Coach Breene is still optimistic that UB can have a strong season.
"I would have liked to have won a couple of games, but we're battling putting together the three elements of the game, more then the one at a time we've had so far. We're all looking forward to our spring break when we'll be playing nine games over the course of the week."
Over the break, UB has a two-game series at Mount St. Mary's and will then travel to St. Joseph's for one game and Coppin State for one more. After that, they will open up a three-game series against Towson State to finish off spring break.
Photo: Courtesy of Matthew Messina, from the RMBERS' Instagram page
