Bryan Sanchez

KENT, OH ­ Bryan Sanchez (Canandaigua, NY/Canandaigua Academy) hit two home runs and Kevin Nesteruk (Cheektowaga, NY/West Seneca East) and Adrian Daniels (Spencerport, NY/Spencerport) each homered once, but it wasn't enough as Buffalo (16-34, 5-18) dropped the opening game of a four-game series to Kent State (32-16, 17-4), 13-9, at Gene Michael Field on Friday afternoon.

Kent State took a 1-0 lead with a run in the bottom of the first inning. Sanchez hit a solo shot in the top of the second to tie the game, 1-1. After the Golden Flashes scored twice in the bottom of the second inning, the Bulls put four on the board in the top of the third. Brandon DiCesare (Rochester, NY/McQuaid Jesuit) ripped a two-run double and Sanchez followed with a two-run homer, his second of the game, to give the Bulls a 5-3 lead.

Eric O'Brien hit a two-run single in the bottom of the fourth inning for Kent State to tie the contest, 5-5. Nesteruk led off the sixth inning with his fourth home run in his last six games to put the Bulls up, 6-5. However, the lead was short-lived as Kent State scored twice in the bottom of the sixth and exploded for five runs in the bottom of the seventh to take control of the game, 12-6.

The Bulls scored once in top of the eighth on an RBI single by Joe Mihalics (Tonawanda, NY/Timon/St. Jude) and twice in the top of the ninth on Daniels' two-run bomb. However, it wasn't enough as the Golden Flashes held on for the 13-9 victory.

The Bulls pounded out 11 hits on the afternoon. Daniels, Nesteruk and Sanchez each had multi-hit games for UB.

Kent State starter Dirk Hayhurst improved to 6-1 with the win. Jeff Loveys (Woodstock, Ontario/College Avenue Secondary School) took the loss for Buffalo.

The series will continue on Saturday with a doubleheader starting at 1 pm.