When a team is limited to only eight total hits over the span of a doubleheader, they will in most cases be swept.
But miracles do happen.
The UB Bulls baseball team somehow managed to topple the Canisius Golden Griffins in the first game of a doubleheader on Thursday, despite the fact that their offense pulled off some sort of Houdini-like disappearing act.
They are going to have to use a heck of a lot more magic if they expect to beat the Marshall Thundering Herd in a four-game series at UB this weekend with their anemic offense.
The series was originally set for one game Friday, a doubleheader Saturday and a game Sunday. But due to the recent snow and ice, they are playing doubleheaders at 1 p.m. both Saturday and Sunday.
Buffalo comes into the series with a record of 6-17 overall and a 1-5 record in the conference. The Bulls are coming off a doubleheader split on Wednesday against Canisius, winning the first game 2-1, despite only getting three hits. They lost the nightcap by a score of 3-2.
Bryan Sanchez launched his team best third home run of the season in the Bulls' win, and Andrew Engert drove home the game-winning run in the top of the seventh on an RBI single.
UB pitcher James Mantazis came into the game in the seventh to preserve Buffalo's lead and got his second save of the season. Buffalo used four pitchers with Dustin Clark (2-2) getting the win. Harpreet Padda (0-2) pitched a solid game for the Griffins, turning in seven innings of work with four strikeouts and only two earned runs on three hits, but he was unable to register his first win of the season.
The Bulls' bats did not get any better in game two, as they fell a run short and were only able to muster five hits in the game. Phil Vanhorne, who coming into the doubleheader was the league's hottest hitter, had a quiet doubleheader, going 1-7 with an RBI. Vanhorne still leads the team with a .329 average and is also tops in the hit department with 28 this season.
Although only playing one inning, Jeff Loveys (1-3) was credited with the loss for Buffalo, while Canisius' Ryan Topping (1-4), who pitched seven innings, picked up his first win of the season. He struck out five while allowing only one earned run on five hits.
Marshall comes in with a record of 11-18-1 and a conference record of 2-6. They had a game rained out on Wednesday due to inclement weather against the Rio Grande Redmen.
The last games they played were against the Ohio Bobcats, where they lost three of the four games played in the series. In their last game on Sunday, they had six errors, including three in the eighth inning, culminating in a 5-3 loss. Marshall was up 3-2 in the bottom frame but a mental collapse was on the horizon.
The Thundering Herd are led by their slugger, Francois Larmore. He leads the team by a wide margin with 11 home runs and 28 RBIs. While obviously a power hitter, he also shows that he can hit with an impressive .309 average.
Marshall will probably count on Fritz Conrad to pitch the first or second game on Saturday, as he is coming off an impressive outing, where he hurled five innings against Ohio, allowing only two hits and one run and striking out five batters. He would have been credited with a win if the Herd had held on to their late lead in the 5-3 loss.
Buffalo is expected to throw out their very best with pitcher Nick Bellacose, who has a team best ERA of 3.33 and a record of 1-2.
Tyler Balentine will also see some action, as he leads the team in innings pitched with 32 and 2/3 pitched. He also has an ERA of 3.86 and leads the team with 25 strikeouts.
Last season when the two teams played at Marshall, the Herd were able to win two of three from UB. Balentine had one of his best starts of the season March 29, 2002, when he pitched a complete game, giving up one earned run on 11 hits while striking out three in a 7-2 win.
Sanchez provided the game breaker with a big three-run homer, allowing the Bulls to prevail.
Marshall's highlight of the series came the next day from Chris Fritz when he pitched a complete game shut out, allowing only five hits and striking out five.
Photo: Meredith Forrest Kulwicki
