Baseball Gives Kentucky All They Can Handle; Fall in Extra Innings, 9-8

Sunday, March 6

1 pm

3-6

Kentucky

7-3

Buffalo

Kentucky

Baseball Gives Kentucky All They Can Handle; Fall in Extra Innings, 9-8

3/6/2016 12:00:00 AM | Baseball

Box Score

LEXINGTON, KY – Despite racing out to an 8-0 lead in the second inning, the University at Buffalo baseball team dropped their third straight to the Kentucky Wildcats on Sunday afternoon. The Bulls were defeated 9-8 in 10 innings as the Wildcats were able to improve to 7-3 on the year while UB falls to 3-6.

The Bulls jumped out to the quick lead on Sunday as Bobby Sheppard and Ben Haefner opened the inning with back-to-back singles to center before Vinny Mallaro earned a walk to load the bases with no outs. All three base runners were able to move up a base, Sheppard scoring, on a passed ball. Chris Kwitzer earned a walk to reload the bases and then Mike Abrunzo hit a deep sacrifice fly to score Haefner from third, making it 2-0 in favor of the visitors. Ben Ven then singled before Billy Hartford hit a ground ball to score Mallaro from third. Andrew Taft then doubled down the left field line to score Vey and Kwitzer to give UB the 5-0 lead after the top half of the first inning.

UB starter Charlie Sobieraski then cruised through the next two innings and the Bulls added to their lead in the third. Abrunzo opened the inning with a walk and Vey hit a single to move Abrunzo to second base before Hartford notched his first hit and second RBI of the game as he smacked a single to left center field. Taft hit an RBI single of his own to left center field to score Vey from third base. The Bulls then scored their third run of the inning on an error by Wildcats shortstop, scoring Hartford from third. UB held the 8-0 lead heading into the bottom of the third.

The Wildcats began to chip away at the UB lead in the bottom of the third as they notched three runs, making it 8-3 in favor of UB. Kentucky received an RBI ground out, a sacrifice fly and a solo home run to get back in the game.

The Wildcats got back to even with the Bulls in the bottom half of the fifth inning as they put up five runs on Sobieraski before chasing him from the mound. Logan Harasta came in from the bullpen and ended the threat for the Bulls as the Wildcats tied the game, 8-8.

Harasta then pitched a scoreless sixth inning for the Bulls before giving way to Mike Kaelin who finished off the game for the Bulls. Abrunzo opened the seventh inning with a single and he was able to advance to third on a wild pitch but he was stranded on base.

After Kaelin pitched a perfect 1-2-3 bottom half of the seventh inning, Haefner smacked a single to right field but was stranded on base once again. Kaelin then pitched another scoreless inning in relief in the eighth as the teams headed to the ninth tied, 8-8.

After a scoreless inning by UB, Kaelin hit the first batter of the inning and he stole second base with no outs. Kaelin then struck out the next three batters to prevent the Wildcats from scoring the game-winning run.

UB went 1-2-3 in the top of the 10^th inning before Kaelin was able to quickly get the first two outs of the bottom half of the inning. The junior then made his only mistake of the game, a pitch that was taken into the gap in right center field for a double. After an intentional walk, Zach Arnold hit a sharp single to left field to score the game-winning run.

Taft led the Bulls with a career-high three RBI's on Sunday as he went 2-for-5 at the plate with a double. Seeing the start at catcher, Hartford finished off his first career multi-RBI game as he went 1-for-5 with two RBI's and a run scored in the loss. Vey went 2-for-4 at the plate with a team-best two runs scored while Haefner improved his batting average to .409 on the year going 2-for-4 with a run scored. Abrunzo raised his team-best batting average to .444 on the year as he went 1-for-1 with a RBI, a run scored and three walks in the game.

On the mound, Sobieraski went 4.2 innings while allowing eight earned runs and striking out two batters while Harasta came in out of the bullpen and was effective. Harasta went 1.1 innings of scoreless ball while allowing just one hit.

Kaelin had one of his best outings of the season even though he ended up earning the loss on Sunday. The hard-thrower pitched 3.2 innings while allowing just three hits and one run and striking out four Kentucky batters.

The Bulls will return to the diamond on Saturday, March 12 as they head to Emmitsburg, MD to take on Mount St. Mary's. First pitch is set for 1:00 pm on Saturday. Game two will start at 1:00 pm on Sunday and game three of the series will take place at 3:00 pm on Monday afternoon.