BUFFALO, NY ­ The University at Buffalo christened its new home diamond, Audubon Park, Friday night with a heartbreaking 12-5 loss to Northern Illinois in Mid-American Conference baseball action. Northern Illinois (24-24, 6-14 MAC) erupted for eight runs in the top of the ninth to snare the victory.

UB pitcher Brendan Dunford (Buffalo, NY/Timon/St. Jude) struck out a season-high 12 in suffering the defeat, pitching 8.1 innings. Dunford is now 3-5 on the year.

After the Huskies grabbed a 2-0 lead in the third, UB scored all five of its runs in the fifth inning. The Bulls (11-35, 5-20) loaded the bases on a single by Kevin Brown (Amherst, NY/Amherst), a walk to Joe Todoro (Orchard Park, NY/Orchard Park) and Corey Blair (Oneida, NY/Oneida) reaching on a catcher's interference. Kevin Nesteruk (Cheektowaga, NY/West Seneca East) plated the first run with a sacrifice fly. Rob Golemba (New City, NY/Clarkstown South) then singled to drive in Todoro, tying the contest 2-2. Tim Sova (Rochester, NY/Greece-Athena) put the Bulls in front as he singled home Blair. Bryan Sanchez (Canandaigua, NY/Canandaiuga Academy) then added to his single-season RBI record by plating Sova and Golemba to give the Bulls the 5-2 edge. Sanchez leads the team with 44 RBIs.

Northern Illinois narrowed the margin to 5-4 in the seventh as Rob Marconi brought in Dan Urban. Pat Kerrigan then scored from third when Golemba's throw to plate sailed high.

In the ninth, Urban led off with a single and scored the tying run one out later on a triple to right center by Marconi. Marconi then scored what turned out to be the winning run when Jason Ciarrachi hit a bloop double to right. Jim McArthur then added an RBI single and Bilal Omar brought home a pair with a single for a 9-5 lead, chasing Dunford from the game. Bob Batdorf (Endwell, NY/Maine-Endwell) came on in relief to finish the inning.

The Huskies then loaded the bases on bunt singles by Noel Danielson and Kyle Kimme. Omar then scored the 10th run on a wild pitch. Urban and Marconi later added RBI singles to close the inning. Steve Hardman finished the contest striking out the side in the ninth.

Nesteruk led the Bulls with a pair of hits, including a double. Marconi was 4-for-6 with four RBIs while Danielson added three hits.

The teams play a doubleheader at Audubon Park on Saturday with a seven-inning contest followed by a nine-inning game. The series concludes Sunday with a single game. First pitch both days is 1:00 pm.