James Kingsley

BUFFALO, NY - Despite a record-tying performance from junior first baseman James Kingsley (Medina, NY/Medina), the University at Buffalo baseball team fell victim to seven unanswered runs as Duquesne rallied to beat Buffalo, 12-6 in non-conference action on a warm, sunny Tuesday at Amherst Audubon Field.

Kingsley tied the school records for home runs in a season and runs batted in with a three-run blast to left field during a four-run third inning. Kingsley tied Bryan Sanchez's marks of 12 homers and 46 RBIs set in 2001.

Freshman Mike Folli (Endicott, NY/Union-Endicott), who saw his 22-game hitting streak snapped in Sunday's 2-0 loss to Toledo, took a two-strike pitch over the right field fence for his second home run of the year in the bottom of the third inning after he fouled two pitches to deep right to make it 4-2.

Phil Vanhorne

The Bulls (15-27-1 overall) kept the momentum going, as senior center fielder Phil Vanhorne (Scarborough, Ontario/Mother Teresa) singled through the infield and senior shortstop Joe Mihalics (Tonawanda, NY/Timon-St.Jude) walked. Kingsley followed with his record-tying homer to give the Bulls the lead.

However, Duquesne (15-29 overall) started its string of seven unanswered runs in the fourth, as Cory Bugno doubled over the right fielder's head to lead off, took third on a passed ball and scored on a sacrifice fly to tie the game. In the sixth inning, Duquesne added four runs, as Alex Sharick was hit by a pitch with one out and the next four batters reached base and four scored. Two more runs scored in the seventh inning thanks to an error and two hits made it 11-5.

The Bulls got another run in the eighth inning, as Mihalics and Kingsley got infield singles and sophomore catcher Dan Quinn (Hamburg, NY/Frontier) drove Mihalics in with a single up the middle. The Dukes answered with a run of their own in the top of the ninth to close out the scoring.

Buffalo got on the board in second inning after Duquesne had scored two runs in each of the first two innings when junior left fielder David Amaro (Endicott, NY/Union-Endicott) singled to lead off and freshman designated hitter E.J. Folli (Endicott, NY/Union-Endicott) followed with a double to left. After a lineout, a sacrifice fly brought Amaro in.

Junior Matt Johnson (Montague, MI/Montague) (3-5) pitched four innings, allowing four earned runs, four hits and a walk. He struck out one.

Joe Kaye (4-2) threw 4 1/3 innings of relief for Duquesne, allowing one hit and five walks, but no runs. He struck out two.

Quinn threw out two base stealers, giving him 26 in 38 opportunities this year. Vanhorne had three singles in the game to give him 189 career hits with seven games remaining in the season. Mike Folli and E.J. Folli both had two hits in the game along with Kingsley, as Buffalo notched 12 hits.

Bugno finished 4-for-4 with three runs and two RBIs out of the nine-hole for Duquesne and Eric Morrison and Bill Torre each had three hits.

Buffalo is next in action on Friday, as it hosts preseason favorite Central Michigan at 3:00 pm in a Mid-American Conference crossover series at Amherst Audubon Field.