BUFFALO, NY - The University at Buffalo dropped a pair of Mid-American Conference contests Tuesday afternoon at Dunn Tire Park with its 7-3 and 17-8 decisions to visiting Kent State. With the losses, the Bulls fell to 8-13 overall and 2-6 in league play. Kent State, last season's MAC Tournament champion, remains in first place in the East Division at 5-1 in the league and 16-11 overall.

In game one, Kent State broke a 2-2 tie with five runs in the seventh, and final, inning. After UB starter Mark Garrard (Port Hope, Ontario/Port Hope) had secured the first two outs, but ran into trouble walking the next hitter and hitting two consecutive batsmen. Chris Welsch brought home the go-ahead runs with a two-run single to left. The Golden Flashes added a run on an Anthony Puccia (Penfield, NY/Penfield) wild pitch, followed by a dropped fly by right fielder Brian Zelasko (Orchard Park, NY/Orchard Park) to plate the final two runs.

Tim Sova

UB had tied the game in the bottom of the sixth on RBI singles by Eric Huber (Orchard Park, NY/Orchard Park) and John Boom (London, Ontario/Catholic Central). Zelasko added an RBI single in the seventh.

Garrard took the loss to fall to 1-1 while Kent State's Gus Hlebovy (2-1) picked up the win in relief of Chris White.

In game two, the Bulls jumped ahead early in the bottom of the first. After leadoff hitter Joe Milhalics (Orchard Park, NY/Orchard Park) drew a walk, freshman shortstop Phil Vanhorne (Scarborough, Ontario/Mother Teresa) smacked his first collegiate home run to give the Bulls the early 2-0 advantage.

Kent State struck for nine runs in the third inning to take command of the nine-inning contest. They took the lead for good as Welsch hit a grand slam off starter Mike Leslie (Suffern, NY/Suffern). Pat O'Brien followed with a solo homer to end Leslie's day. John Sullivan (Buffalo, NY/Timon/St. Jude) came on in relief, giving up a three-run homer to Chad Kinyon later in the inning.

Brian Sanchez

After Kent State added two more solo homers in the fourth for a 13-2 lead, UB struck for one run in its half of the inning as Bryan Sanchez (Canandaigua, NY/Canandaigua Academy) connected for the first of his two roundtrippers of the game. Sanchez added a three-run homer in the UB's four-run fifth inning, scoring Brandon DiCesare (Rochester, NY/McQuaid Jesuit) and Vanhorne ahead of him. Tim Sova (Rochester, NY/Greece-Athena) had led off the inning with a double to left to extend his hitting streak to seven games. Sova scored the first run of the inning as Kent State third baseman Phil LoCascio misplayed Vanhorne's potential inning-ending grounder.

Kent State added one run in the eighth and three in the ninth before UB scored the final run of the afternoon on a Sanchez groundout plating Milhalics.

Leslie fell to 0-4 with the loss while KSU starter Jason Biniker (1-0) worked five innings to gain his first win of the season.

Phil Vanhorne

Sanchez finished the second game with five RBIs, with two hits and two runs scored. Vanhorne also had two RBIs and two runs scored with his two hits. Sova went a perfect 3-for-3 in the opener, finishing the day 4-for-7 with two runs scored. Welsch was 2-for-5 with five RBIs in the game, knocking in seven runs in the doubleheader for Kent State. Pat O'Brien had a pair of solo homers in the nightcap.

The Bulls travel to Niagara for a single nine-inning game against the Purple Eagles on Wednesday. Game time is 1:00 pm. UB defeated Niagara 15-4 at Niagara two weeks ago.