Ohio Outlasts Buffalo, 14-9

Bulls pound out 14 hits in the loss

Rick Oliveri

ATHENS, OH – The University at Buffalo baseball team was able to overcome deficits of five and four runs, respectively, but ultimately fell to the host Ohio Bobcats, 14-9, Saturday evening at Bob Wren Stadium. The loss drops UB’s record to 6-25 on the season and 5-9 in conference play.

Ohio got on the board early with five runs in the bottom of the first inning and added one more in the second to take a six-run lead. From there UB put up five runs in the top of the third inning, the most runs it has scored in an inning since putting up five runs in the second inning at Marshall on March 3.

With the Bobcats still up by one, Ohio scored three more runs, taking a 9-5 lead in the game. The Bulls began to chip away at that lead as they recorded one run in the sixth inning and tied the game up at nine with three runs in the top of the eighth inning. However, Ohio managed to scored five runs in the bottom of the eighth inning to take a 14-9 advantage and ultimately held the Bulls off.

Mike Folli

Junior Rick Oliveri (Tonawanda, NY/Canisius) went 3-for-4 in the game, his first career three-hit game and scored two runs on the evening. Mike Folli (Endicott, NY/Union-Endicott) went 2-for-5 and drove in a season-high three runs. Freshman Shivam Bhan (Calden, Ontario/Mayfield) also had a big game, going 2-for-5 with two runs.

The Bulls managed to put the runs on the board, but the pitching staff struggled as starter Mark Tourangeau (Oakville, Ontario/Queen Elizabeth Park) managed just two innings of work, while allowing six runs. He picked up the no decision as the loss went to Dan Francis (East Amherst, NY/Clarence).

The Bulls and Bobcats face off in the rubber game of the three-game series with a 1:00 pm start tomorrow afternoon.

04/21/2007