Bulls Fall at Niagara, 10-6

Chris Ciesla drove in three runs for the Bulls

Chris Ciesla

NIAGARA FALLS, NY – The University at Buffalo baseball team dropped a non-conference game at Niagara on Wednesday night, 10-6. Chris Ciesla (Endicott, NY/Union-Endicott) drove in three runs for the Bulls as they fell to 11-26 on the season.

The Bulls and the Purple Eagles were scoreless for the first three and a half innings. Niagara took a lead in the fourth on a pair of unearned runs. Tim Alberts reached on an error to lead off the inning and, after advancing to third on a pair of groundouts, scored on a passed ball. Frank Kurnik then tripled to right for the Purple Eagles and scored on a wild pitch.

Niagara added another run in the fifth. Jonny Smith hit a two-out double down the left field line and scored on a single by Andrew MacDonald.

The Purple Eagles added three more in the sixth to take a 6-0 lead.

Nick Walczak

Buffalo cut the Niagara advantage in half in the eighth. Brian Randazzo (St. Charles, MO/St. Charles) and E.J. Folli (Endicott, NY/Union-Endicott) worked a pair of walks to lead off the eighth for the Bulls. Nick Walczak (Tonawanda, NY/Kenmore East) then was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Randazzo scored the first run of the game for the Bulls on an RBI groundout by Ciesla. Shivam Bhan (Caledon, Ontario/Mayfield) then drove in Folli with a single to left and Charlie Karstedt (Eden, NY/Eden) hit a sacrifice fly, scoring Ciesla, for the third run of the frame for the Bulls.

Niagara responded with four runs in the bottom of the eighth, increasing the Purple Eagle advantage to 10-3.

In the ninth, Tony Fuller (Rochester, NY/Penfield) reached on an error to open the inning. After Randazzo and Walczak walked to load the bases, Ciesla hit a ground rule double to right field to score a pair of runs. Walczak then scored on a sacrifice fly by Bhan, but the Bulls rally came up short when the game ended on a strikeout.

Zach Anderson (Williamsville, NY/Williamsville East) started on the mound for the Bulls; he went five innings and allowed just one earned run while striking out two.

The Bulls return to Mid-American Conference play this weekend when they host the Akron Zips at Amherst Audubon Field. Game one is set for Friday, April 25 at 3:00 p.m. and games two and three will be played on Saturday and Sunday, first pitch each day is at 1:00 p.m.

04/23/2008