Andrew Wengert

HUNTINGTON, WV - The University at Buffalo baseball team dropped the first game of a three-game series at Marshall, 8-4, on Friday afternoon.

The Bulls jumped out to a 3-1 lead in the top of the third inning when Andrew Wengert (Utica, NY/Proctor) ripped a two-run double and later scored on a Marshall error. However, the Bulls fell victim to another big inning by the opposition. This time, the Thundering Herd tallied six runs in the bottom of the fourth inning to take a 7-3 lead. Marshall got a three-run home run by Joe Glevenyak, a two-run double by Josh McConnell and a sacrifice fly by Adam Frederick to account for the scoring. Marshall added a run in the bottom of the fifth inning to go ahead 8-3.

An RBI double by Al Barbato (Utica, NY/Whitesboro) scored John Boom (London, Ontario/Catholic Central) to cut the lead to 8-4. However, that would be as close as the Bulls would get as they dropped their sixth straight game.

Mark Tourangeau (Oakville, Ontario/Queen Elizabeth Park) allowed five runs over three innings to drop to 4-5 on the year. Steve Ziroli earned the win in relief for the Herd.

Wengert finished with three of the Bulls' eight hits.

With the loss, the Bulls fell to 15-37 overall and 4-16 in the MAC. The win improved Marshall's record to 25-27 overall and 8-13 in the conference. Game two of the three-game series will be played on Saturday afternoon at 1 pm.