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DeKALB, IL - The University at Buffalo fell 8-4 to Northern Illinois in the opener of a four-game Mid-American Conference baseball series at Ralph McKinzie Field, Friday afternoon. The loss drops the Bulls to 15-23 overall and 6-15 in the MAC while the Huskies move to 20-27 overall, 8-11 MAC.

Corey Blair

UB jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the second inning. Corey Blair (Oneida, NY/Oneida) belted a two-run home run to left field scoring Eric Huber (Orchard Park, NY/Orchard Park) ahead of him.

Northern Illinois tied the game in the fourth as Noel Danielson led off with a triple and scored on Rob Marconi's basehit. Marconi later came around to score the tying run two outs later on an RBI single by Dave Garcia. UB starter Mark McMahon (West Seneca, NY/Timon/St. Jude) was able to get out of the inning without further damage by forcing John Brock to hit into an inning-ending flyout to leave the bases loaded.

The Bulls regained the lead in the sixth, 3-2, when Blair connected for his second homer of the game against NIU starter Josh Owens. The blast to left-center field was Blair's eighth of the season, tops on the club. Dan Urban tied the contest at 3-3 with his second home run of the season in the bottom of the sixth for Northern Illinois.

Phil Vanhorne

UB took a 4-3 lead in the seventh as freshman shortstop Phil Vanhorne (Scarborough, Ontario/Mother Teresa) went deep for his second homer of the year.

Northern Illinois took the lead for good in the bottom of the seventh. Bilal Omar led off the inning with a single and moved to second on a groundout. Omar then scored the tying run on Jason Ciarrachi's RBI single, knotting the contest at 4-4. Danielson then singled, moving Ciarrachi to third. Nick Bellacose (Clarence, NY/Clarence) then came on in relief of McMahon. Marconi's triple to right-center scored Danielson and Ciarrachi and gave the Huskies a 6-4 lead. NIU would add a pair of runs in the eighth for the 8-4 final score.

Blair was the lone Bull with multiple hits in the game with his two roundtrippers. McMahon (3-2) struck out six in 6.1 innings of work while Mark Garrard (Port Hope, Ontario/Port Hope) struck out both batters he faced to end the eighth inning.

Mark Mallo (1-1) picked up the victory in relief for the Huskies.

The Bulls and Huskies meet again tomorrow for a doubleheader. Starting time is 2:00 pm (ET) for the first game of the twinbill, a seven-inning contest, followed by a nine-inning nightcap.