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Tony Kurtz

TOLEDO, OH _ Buffalo used two first-inning runs and freshman Tony Kurtz (Newfane, NY/Newfane) and junior Sean McWilliams (Canandaigua, NY/Canandaigua) were able to do the rest in Mid-American Conference action on Saturday afternoon at Scott Park, as the University at Buffalo baseball team defeated Toledo, 4-3.

Kurtz (5-2) set a school-record since reinstatement with his fifth victory of the year, as the freshman gave the Bulls' six innings, allowing four hits and four walks. He allowed two runs in his second career start, as he struck out two.

Buffalo (15-25-1 overall, 2-10-1 MAC) started off strong as freshman Mike Folli (Endicott, NY/Union-Endicott) walked and took second on a wild pitch. Senior center fielder Phil Vanhorne (Scarborough, Ontario/Mother Teresa) singled him home with a hit to left center. Vanhorne took second on a wild pitch and after two walks, he was driven in on a sacrifice fly.

Toledo (13-30 overall, 3-12 MAC) got one run back when a walk, a sacrifice bunt, a wild pitch and a groundout made it 2-1.

The Bulls added a tally in the third inning, when Folli reached on an error by the shortstop. Vanhorne walked and after a sacrifice and a walk loaded the bases with two outs before Folli scored on a balk.

In the fifth inning, Buffalo took a 4-1 lead when junior first baseman James Kingsley (Medina, NY/Medina) and sophomore catcher Dan Quinn (Hamburg, NY/Frontier) led off with singled, but Kingsley was thrown out trying to reach third. Quinn scored on a double down the left-field line from junior designated hitter David Amaro (Endicott, NY/Union-Endicott) doubled down the line.

Sean McWilliams

The Rockets scored a run in the seventh inning when the first four runners reached base on two walks, two errors before Kurtz was lifted in favor of McWilliams, who got a groundball double play at third base before a strikeout ended the inning.

Toledo added another run in the eighth as Drew Hoisington doubled to lead off and Nick Lance drove him in with a two-out single up the middle. However, that was as close as Toledo could get, as McWilliams retired the side in order in the ninth.

Folli extended his hitting streak to 22 games with a 2-for-4 performance and he scored twice to lead the Bulls. Vanhorne also went 2-for-4 with a run and an RBI as Buffalo notched 10 hits in the game.

Brian Sanders went 2-for-3 and Hoisington went 1-for-2 with two runs for Toledo.

McWilliams, who earned his fifth career save, gave up three hits and a run as he struck out two in thee frames.

Joe Welsh (0-8) pitched 4 1/3 innings, allowing six hits and six walks, yielding all four runs. He struck out six before Matt Meinberg pitched 4 2/3 innings of four-hit ball to close the game.

Buffalo will try to take the weekend series from Toledo in the rubber game of the three-game set at 1:00 pm on Sunday.