Baseball Downs Bucknell 5-3 In Game Two; Splits Doubleheader With Bison

Saturday, February 28

12 pm

1-4

Bucknell

5-2

Buffalo

Bucknell

Baseball Downs Bucknell 5-3 In Game Two; Splits Doubleheader With Bison

2/28/2015 12:00:00 AM | Baseball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2

COLUMBIA, SC – The University at Buffalo, The State University of New York baseball team (1-4) took the 5-3 lead in the seventh inning of game two on Saturday and never looked back, downing the Bucknell Bison by the same score to split the doubleheader. UB dropped the opening game of the afternoon to the Bison, 17-4 behind a 13 run outburst in the seventh inning by Bucknell.

The bats woke up for the Bulls in game two as they recorded a season-high 11 hits in the victory including a career-best three hit performance by freshman Charlie Sobieraski.

UB opened the scoring in the second inning as Mike Abrunzo singled and advanced to second on a wild pitch before Sobieraski singled to score the junior and give the Bulls the 1-0 lead.

After the Bison recorded three runs in the bottom of the third inning, freshman Mitchell Machi smacked his first career home run to bring the Bulls within one, 3-2. After two scoreless innings, UB got even with Bucknell in the seventh as Brian Dudek crossed the plate on a Bobby Sheppard groundout to third.

After a quick seventh inning for the Bison that featured a pair of strikeouts, UB came to bat in the eighth and put the game away. With two outs, Sobieraski singled and advanced to second on a wild pitch before Justin Gonzalez walked to give UB two runners on base. After a pitching change, Dudek singled to score Sobieraski and give the Bulls the 4-3 lead. Junior Nick Sinay then came to the plate and gave the Bulls the 5-3 lead as he singled to plate Gonzalez from third.

Ben Hartz started for the Bulls and finished with seven strikeouts in 5.2 innings of action while Mike Kaelin earned his first win of the season with 3.1 innings of perfect relief and striking out seven batters for the Bulls. Sinay, Abrunzo and Dudek finished off game two with two hits each for UB.

In game one of the doubleheader, the Bison got their bats going in the bottom of the seventh inning and they were able to turn a tied game into a blowout, crossing 13 runners across the plate in the inning.

The Bison scored 13 runs behind a pair of home runs and timely hits. Joe Ogren and Mark Powell smacked homers for Bucknell as they jumped on the UB pitching staff in the seventh to secure their fifth win of the season.

The Bison opened up the scoring in the first inning as they were able to score one guy on a wild pitch from UB starting pitcher Mike McGee. The Bulls however did not let the game slip away from them that easy as Abrunzo and Chris Kwitzer opened the second inning with back-to-back singles before Vinny Mallaro was hit with a pitch to load the bases. Freshman Ben Vey then grounded into a fielder's choice which scored Abrunzo for his first career RBI to tie the game at one.

The Bison were able to notch three runs in the second inning to take the 4-1 early advantage on the Bulls. UB battled back again as they scored a pair of runs in the fourth inning to make the score 4-3 in favor of Bucknell. Brent Cleland reached base after being hit by a pitch and then Vey doubled to give the Bulls runners on third and second with one out. Dudek then collected a sacrifice fly to score Cleland and Vey scored on a pass ball two batters later.

The Bulls added the tying run in the sixth inning as Dudek grounded out to shortstop to score Mallaro from third, knotting the score at four. Unfortunately for the Bulls, they allowed another big inning in the seventh as Bucknell scored 13 and made the score 17-4, the eventual final score.

Dudek finished the doubleheader with a team-best three RBI's for the Bulls. UB and Bucknell will return to the diamond on Sunday at 10:30 am in the rubber match of a three game set in Columbia, SC.