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HUNTINGTON, WV - The University at Buffalo fell out of first place in the Mid-American Conference East Division Saturday as they dropped a doubleheader at Marshall. UB was decisioned 4-0 in the seven-inning opener and lost a heartbreaking 7-6 contest in the nine-inning nightcap. UB is now 6-9 overall and 1-2 in league play while the Thundering Herd moved to 10-12 and into first place in the division at 3-2.

Brandon DiCesare

In game one, Marshall got all their runs in the fifth inning off UB starter Mike Leslie (Suffern, NY/Suffern). Craig Dziedziejko brought home the first run on a sacrifice fly. Marshall later loaded the bases and went up 4-0 on a doubleby Ryan Kobbe clearing the bases. The double was the only hit of the inning and one of just three allowed by Leslie (0-3) and reliever Mark Garrard (Port Hope, Ontario/Port Hope), who went the final 1.1 innings. Leslie struck out six in 4.2 innings of work.

The Bulls collected five hits off of Marshall starter Chris Fritz (3-2). Jordan Alcott (Williamsville, NY/Williamsville South) had a double for UB's only extra-base hit in the opener.

Bryan Sanchez

After spotting Marshall a 2-0 lead in the top of the first on RBIs by Matt White and Dziedziejko, UB responded with all six of their runs in the bottom of the third. Brandon DiCesare (Rochester, NY/McQuaid Jesuit) tied the game, 2-2, with a bases-loaded two-run double to score Brian Zelasko (Orchard Park, NY/Orchard Park) and Tim Sova (Rochester, NY/Greece-Athena). After Bryan Sanchez (Canandaigua, NY/Canandaigua Academy) was hit by a pitch to reload the bases, Adrian Daniels (Spencerport, NY/Spencerport) gave the Bulls a 3-2 lead with an RBI fielder's choice to score Phil Vanhorne (Scarborough, Ontario/Mother Teresa) as Marshall pitcher Rick Suter (1-5) committed an error on the play. Kevin Nesteruk (Cheektowaga, NY/West Seneca East), in his first action in three weeks, then singled to score DiCesare for a 4-2 lead. Sanchez then scored as Corey Blair (Oneida, NY/Oneida) hit into a double play and Daniels brought home the sixth run of the inning on an RBI single by John Boom (London, Ontario/Catholic Central).

Adrian Daniels

Marshall rallied for four runs in the seventh inning for the deciding margin. White knocked home David Colangelo on an RBI double to cut the UB lead to 6-4. Homer Renshaw tied the contest at 6-6 as he plated two runs with a single to left field, scoring White and Dziedziejko, and prompting UB starting pitcher Brendan Dunford (Buffalo, NY/Timon/St. Jude) (1-4) to be lifted in favor of Anthony Puccia (Penfield, NY/Penfield). Aaron Amburgey brought home the game-deciding run on Puccia's first pitch with an infield single to score Kobbe with the seventh run.

The Bulls threatened in the eighth and ninth innings, but stranded two runners to close out both innings. UB left 11 runners on base in the contest while Marshall left 10 runners.

Tim Sova

Sova and Boom collected two hits each while DiCesare extended his hitting streak to a team-high ten games. DiCesare had a 15-game hitting streak last season.

The teams will conclude the four-game series tomorrow at 1:00 p.m.