???Life on the road takes its toll on even the most experienced of travelers. It doesn't take long before a person starts yearning for a night of sleep in his or her own bed.
???The baseball team continued the early part of Mid-American Conference play last weekend, visiting the Central Michigan Chippewas on Friday and Saturday.
???Before playing one home game, Buffalo (10-15, 1-5 MAC) showed signs of distress at Theunissen Stadium in Mount Pleasant, Mich. The Bulls and Chippewas (12-15, 3-3 MAC) faced off three times over a two-day period. Central Michigan won the series with 5-2 and 7-3 victories. Buffalo pulled out a 6-1 victory in the second game of the series.
???"[The Bulls] were excited to get to conference play," Torgalski said, "I think being on the road now for six straight weekends, it's starting to take its toll on the guys."
???The Bulls came out rough and struggled to swing the bats well in the season opener last Friday. They went down 5-0 after the first inning and couldn't string enough offense together to get back into the game.
???The importance of getting off to a fast start in games is something Torgalski is really preaching to his ballclub.
???"We didn't get out of the gate," Torgalski said. "... We've been trying to get across to these guys that it's a game of momentum and when you get behind 5-0 in the first inning you're playing catch up the whole way."
???Senior pitcher Chris Ciesla got knocked around in the first and only inning he pitched in the game. Ciesla allowed two hits and walked three batters. Three of the five runs Ciesla gave up were earned.
???Sophomore pitcher Jesse Reinstein came in to help give Buffalo a chance. He struck out four batters and allowed six hits and no runs in 6.1 innings.
???The Bulls offensive effort was lead by junior second baseman Brad Agustin, who went 2-for-3 with one run batted in and a walk.
???Despite Agustin's effort, the Bulls could not take advantage of runners in scoring position. Buffalo left nine runners on base over the course of Friday's game.
???"I thought we made some runs at them," Torgalski said. "We got some guys in scoring position but just didn't get the key hits when we needed them."
???Buffalo bounced back the next day to begin Saturday's doubleheader. Unlike Friday's game, the Bulls' offense came out strong and scored three runs in the early parts of the game.
???Senior left fielder Eric Flynn started off the third inning with a walk. The walk was followed by a double to right field off of junior center fielder Adam Skonieczki's bat. With runners on second and third and no outs, Agustin hit a sacrifice fly to right field to score Flynn to give the Bulls a 1-0 lead.
???Ciesla tacked on another run for the Bulls with an RBI triple to score Skonieczki, giving the Bulls a 2-0 advantage.
???Junior shortstop Jacob Rosenbeck finished off the scoring in the inning with a single to left field, scoring Ciesla from third giving Bufffalo a 3-0 lead.
???The third inning outburst was all junior pitcher Pierre Miville-Deschenes needed to secure the win for the Bulls. He picked up his third win of the season with a complete game effort, allowing only four hits to the Chippewas. Deschenes struck out six batters gave up only one run to Central Michigan.
The 6-1 Buffalo victory set up a rubber match in the third game. Senior pitcher Zach Anderson was sent to the hill in the second game of Saturday's doubleheader. Anderson, the Bulls' closer, was used as a starter due to injuries sustained by senior pitchers Mike Stangroom and Dan Francis.
???Anderson gave the Bulls everything they could hope for. He pitched seven scoreless innings and struck out a career-high nine batters.
"He threw phenomenal," Torgalski said. "I didn't want to take him out going into the eighth, but his pitch count was up there and he had thrown more pitches than he had thrown all year."
???Due to a high pitch count for Anderson, Torgalksi was forced to go to the bullpen in the eighth inning. The strong outing by Anderson, however, really impressed Torgalski.
???Freshman relief pitcher River McWilliams came in and tried to preserve the lead for the Bulls, but McWilliams was unable to get a Chippewa batter out before Torgalski took him out. He gave up three hits and two walks, resulting in five earned runs.
???The bullpen would give up seven runs in the inning and the Bulls' hitters were unable to answer, resulting in the 7-3 loss.
???On Wednesday, the Bulls returned home for a two-week homestand and started it off with a bang against Hilbert College (3-12). The Bulls annihilated the Hawks, 35-5. Buffalo's 35 runs broke the all-time record of most runs scored in a game, previously set at 34 hits in 2002 and 2006.
???Buffalo came out flying in the first inning, with the Bulls jumping to a whopping 17-0 lead off of 14 hits. Agustin set of Buffalo's jump-start, earning his third home run of the season. Rosenbeck put the lead at 5-0 after earning a three-run home run.
???It was his second of the season. Junior outfielder Charlie Karstedt then responded, causing a two-RBI triple, giving the Bulls a 9-0 lead. Junior outfielder Rob Lawler sent a two-RBI double into left-center field, putting the score at 12-0. Karstedt finished Buffalo's first inning run with a two-RBI single to center, putting Buffalo at 17-0.
???Hilbert tried to answer Buffalo's record-breaking first inning, but only scored three runs in the top of the second, putting the game at 17-3.
???Buffalo came flying yet again in the bottom of the second, scoring eight runs off of seven hits. The last four runs of the inning came from a grand slam by Lawler, which put the score at 25-4.
???In the bottom of the fourth inning, the Bulls jumped to a 31-4 lead. Ciesla earned his second home run of the season while junior catcher Chris Castro added a two-run home run to put the lead at 28-4.
???In two innings, senior pitcher James Piazza picked up his first win of the season for the Bulls.
???Buffalo continues its conference schedule this weekend at home against the Ball State Cardinals (12-11, 3-2 MAC). The first game is Friday at 3 p.m. at Amherst Audubon Field.
Additional reporting by Senior Sports Editor Stephen Marth.
