Baseball Wins Extra Inning Thriller Over Cross-Town Rival Canisius, 8-5

Tuesday, March 24

3:15 pm

University at Buffalo

5-12

Canisius

10-14

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	Runs R	Hits H	Errors E
Buffalo	0	0	2	0	0	0	0	3	0	0	3	8	9	1
Canisius	0	2	0	2	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	5	7	3

Baseball Wins Extra Inning Thriller Over Cross-Town Rival Canisius, 8-5

3/24/2015 12:00:00 AM | Baseball

Box Score

BUFFALO, NY – Behind a three-run 11^th inning, the University at Buffalo, The State University of New York baseball team (5-12, 1-2 MAC) picked up their second straight victory as they downed cross-town rival Canisius, 8-5. Nick Sinay led the Bulls going 3-for-5 with one RBI and two stolen bases.

After Canisius tied the game in the bottom half of the eighth inning with no outs, Mike Kaelin entered the game and shut the door on the Golden Griffins for the next two innings to send the game to extra innings. Kaelin continued to throw well for the Bulls as he struck out five batters out of the six batters he faced.

After a scoreless 10^th from both sides, the Bulls broke through in the 11^th inning with the game-winning runs as they were able to cross three players across home plate. Charlie Sobieraski started the inning off with a single and then Don Kilian was hit by a pitch to give UB two runners on with no outs. After a sacrifice bunt from Justin Gonzalez, Sinay was intentionally walked to give UB the bases loaded with one out. The very next pitch, Sobieraski scored on a wild pitch to give the Bulls the 6-5 lead. Bobby Sheppard then came to the plate and reached on an error by the shortstop that allowed Sinay and Kilian to cross home plate.

The Bulls fell behind early in the game as the Golden Griffins were able to score two runs in the second inning on no hits and one UB error. Buffalo did not allow the game to slip away as they came right back and tied the game at two in the third inning. After back-to-back walks to Brent Cleland and Gonzalez, Sinay stepped in and hit a single to plate Cleland. Tanner Robinson then stepped in and hit a sacrifice fly to deep left field to plate Gonzalez and tie the game.

Canisius came right back and took the lead in the fourth inning as they scored two runs on a pair of hits to make the score 4-2. In the eighth inning the Bulls jumped on the Griffins pitching staff as they were able to score three runs. Sinay once again started the Bulls off in the eighth with a double before Ben Haefner singled up the middle to move Sinay to third. Sheppard then platted Sinay with a single before Haefner was able to cross the plate on a wild pitch by the Griffins.

Entering the game in the 10^th inning, junior Ben Hartz collected his first win of the season after producing a scoreless inning. Hartz pitched in his second straight game as he collected his first save of the season in a four inning relief appearance against NIU.

With the three run lead in the bottom of the 11^th inning, UB handed the ball to senior Brandon Bentley who shut the door on the Golden Griffins offensive attack as he didn't allow a hit and struck out one batter as he earned his first save of the season.

Sinay led all players with three hits and two stolen bases while Sobieraski finished off his game going 2-for-5 at the plate with one run scored. Four other Bulls collected one hit including Chris Kwitzer who notched his team-leading second triple of the season in the victory.

On the mound, freshman Logan Harasta earned the start as he pitched four innings while allowing one earned run and struck out four batters. Blair Lakso and Alec Tuohy combined to pitch three scoreless innings while Kaelin was dominant in his two innings, lowering his team-leading ERA to 1.62 on the season. Kaelin has struck out 27 batters in 16.2 innings pitched for the Bulls.