What was expected to be a day of close baseball between UB and the Canisius Golden Griffins (2-24 Overall, 1-13 MAAC) was anything but on Wednesday. UB (10-25 Overall, 3-11 MAC) pounded out a total of 30 runs in the doubleheader. No, that is not a misprint; the offense of the Bulls lit up the Canisius pitching staff all afternoon and gave no remorse. UB held off a late rally by Canisius in the nightcap to take both ends of the doubleheader.
Highlights of the first game, which concluded as a 19-1 drubbing by UB, included Brandon DiCesare's 36th double of the season, tying him with Gregg Miller for the most career doubles in school history. First game starter senior Kyle Swiatocha earned his first career win and Joe Mihalics extended his hitting streak to 12 games.
Mihalics led the way for the Bulls in the opener as he went 3 for 5 with a team-high five RBIs. Clint McKeever and Phil Vanhorne each notched four RBIs including two hits apiece. The Bulls' offense was running on all eight cylinders and never stopped. For the game, UB had 14 hits off the dismal pitching of the Golden Griffins.
Swiatocha (1-0) went the distance, scattering six hits through seven innings and giving up only one earned run.
"Kyle's been here four years, he's been a primary reliever, we wanted to get him an opportunity to get a start before he got out of here and he did a great job", said head coach Bill Breene.
Canisius got on the board first on a Danny Conrad single up the gut that sent home Ishmael Cox. That lead was short-lived and was the only time in the first game that they rattled Swiatocha.
Buffalo finally got on the board in the bottom of the third inning when John Boom led off with a standup triple. McKeever hit a sacrifice fly that scored Boom and tied the game at one apiece.
Innings four, five and six spelled disaster for Canisius as the Griffins let Buffalo score 16 unearned runs. Five errors by the Griffins' defense along with aggressive base running led to the 16 unearned runs. Bryan Sanchez's "going, going, gone" shot to deep right field was his team-leading fifth homerun of the year. Before that blast was DiCesare's double that tied him for the career lead with 36.
"We advanced runners and we got the base hits with people in scoring position and that's what I've been telling them all the time that we got to do in order to win and that's what we did," said Breene.
Canisius starter Harpreet Pradda went strong through three innings and then got rocked in the fourth, barely escaping the inning. Pradda (0-3) gave up seven runs, three of which were earned and gave up four hits, taking the loss. Reliever Ryan Topping could not stop the bleeding and also got rocked, giving up 12 runs, none of which were earned. He gave up 10 hits in only 1.2 innings of work.
Canisius Rally Falls Short
In the nightcap, the hot bats of the Bulls were still on fire and took the game 11-7.
The Bulls held off a late two out rally by Canisius to finish off the sweep.
Canisius scored three runs in the top of the seventh to close the lead to four runs but wouldn't get any closer as Jordan Alcott's diving catch of the day sealed the deal. Alcott robbed John Cicero's shot down the first baseline that would have easily been a standup double that would have kept the rally alive and scored another base runner.
Dustin Clark (3-4) pitched five solid innings, striking out five and scattering six hits. Clark gave up four runs, two of which earned the win. Mark McMahon finished off the game by going two innings and shut down the Canisius rally after getting rocked early on. McMahon gave up three runs, all of them earned while scattering three hits and striking out two.
On the other side of the ball, Canisius starter Jordan Neufeld only lasted 3.1 innings, giving up 11 runs, seven of them earned. Neufeld (1-7), who took the loss, got rocked for 10 hits. His reliever, Jason Kaczmarak, faired much better. Kaczmarak went 1.2 inings and didn't let UB score or get a hit.
Canisius got on the board in the top of the first inning, scoring three runs off UB starter Clark. Clark struck out the lead off man but gave up a walk to Brian Hartmann which would prove to be costly as Harpreet Pradda ripped a triple to deep right field, scoring Hartmann. A throwing error by James Kingsley allowed Matt VanGreene to reach second, allowing Pradda to score. Kevin Smith's single sent in VanGreene to make the score 3-0. That would be the Griffs' only lead of the game.
Buffalo answered right back by scoring four runs in the bottom of the inning. Phil Vanhorne singled to right field to start off the bottom of the first inning. Joe Mihalics reached on a fielder's choice. DiCesare kept his hot hitting going as he singled down the third baseline advancing Mihalics to second base. Adrian Daniels reached on a throwing error that scored both Dicesare and Mihalics. Later in the inning, a double by Kevin Nesteruk sent home Davind Amaro and Daniels, making the score 4-3.
"We sacrificed guys, we hit the ball behind the runner to get them in scoring position and then we delivered the hits and that was all the difference in the world," said Breene.
Buffalo got five more runs in the bottom of the second. Adrian Daniel's RBI double highlighted the inning that also featured RBIs by Jordan Alcott and Andrew Wengert. UB would get two more runs in the fourth inning and that was all they would need to hold of the surging Griffins.
Canisius got one more run in the fifth inning before they exploded for three runs with two outs at their last at bat.
Hartmann started off the inning with a single to right field. Padda followed that by reaching on a fielder's choice. Aggressive base running by Padda got him to third before being knocked in by Conrad's ground out to Daniels. McMahon gave up a walk, which was followed by a triple by Kevin Smith, sending in VanGreene. Gabe Baida's double dropped in right center, scoring Smith.
"When you struggle and you break out like this everyone is into it. They want to see everyone do well," said Breene.
Photo: Meredith Forrest Kulwicki
