Bulls Fall to St. Bonaventure in Big Four Classic, 9-4

UB to play Canisius in consolation game on Wednesday

Rob Mancini

OLEAN, NY – Despite out-hitting St. Bonaventure 12-9, the University at Buffalo baseball team dropped a 9-4 decision to the Bonnies in the opening round of the Big Four Classic on Tuesday afternoon. Rob Mancini (Windsor, Ontario/St. Thomas) had a pair of RBIs for the Bulls in the loss.

Buffalo took the lead with a pair of runs in the top of the first. With Adam Skonieczki (Endicott, NY/Union-Endicott) and Nick Walczak (Tonawanda, NY/Kenmore East) already on base after they both singled, Mancini drove a two-RBI single to left center to give the Bulls an early lead.

St. Bonaventure responded with a run in the bottom of the first, but UB answered with two more in the third. Shivam Bhan (Caledon, Ontario/Mayfield) and Charlie Karstedt (Eden, NY/Eden) each drove in a run in the inning with a sacrifice fly.

Tony Fuller

The Bonnies then scored in each of the next five frames to take a 9-4 lead. Randy Moley hit a two-run home run to left center in the third to cut the UB lead to one. St. Bonaventure tied the game on an RBI single by Brad Steinbach in the fourth and took the lead on a Josh Sova solo home run in the fifth. The Bonnies then added to their lead with a run in the sixth and three in the seventh.

Walczak, Mancini, Chris Ciesla (Endicott, NY/Union-Endicott) and Tony Fuller (Rochester, NY/Penfield) each had a pair of hits in the game for the Bulls. With his two hits, Ciesla now has a ten-game hitting streak, his second double-digit hitting streak of the season.

The loss drops Buffalo to 13-28 on the season.

The Bulls will be back in action on Wednesday, April 30 in the consolation game of the Big Four Classic. Buffalo will take on Canisius in Olean, NY at 12:00 p.m.

04/29/2008