Chris McGraw

BUFFALO, NY - Through five innings at Amherst Audubon Field on Friday, Chris McGraw (Summerville, SC/Stratford) and the Buffalo baseball team were cruising against Miami. However, the RedHawks scored five runs in the top of the sixth inning to ignite a rally that resulted in a 13-4 victory over the Bulls in Mid-American Conference play.

Five of the first six Miami outs were strikeouts by McGraw. The junior hurler shut out the RedHawks on two hits and struck out nine through five innings. The Bulls scored two runs in the bottom of the first inning on RBI singles by James Kingsley (Medina, NY/Medina) and David Amaro (Endicott, NY/Union-Endicott) and held the 2-0 lead through five innings. However, Miami scored five runs in the top of the sixth inning to take a 6-2 lead. The key blows were a two-run double by Mike Ferris and a two-run home run by Brian Canada.

Amaro struck again for the Bulls in the bottom of the seventh inning with a two-run double that cut the RedHawks' lead to 5-4. However, a solo home run by Sam Sellery and two-run doubles by both Geoff Orr and John Sloan help Miami score six runs in the top of the eighth inning to take an 11-4 lead. The RedHawks added a pair of runs in the top of the ninth inning on a two-run triple by Orr.

McGraw took the loss, but not before fanning a career-high 10 batters. Graham Taylor tossed a complete game and allowed two earned runs and struck out six for the win.

The Bulls had nine hits in the game, but couldn't capitalize as they left 10 runners on base.

The loss dropped the Bulls to 7-21 overall and 1-5 in the MAC. Miami improved to 21-11 overall and 5-1 in the conference. The teams will play the second game of their three-game series on Saturday with first pitch slated for 1 pm.