MURRAY, Ky. – The University at Buffalo baseball team (2-3, 0-0 MAC) dropped the second game of a three-game series on Saturday afternoon to the Murray State Racers by the score of 12-4. Chris Kwitzer continued to swing a hot bat as he finished off his afternoon going 3-for-5 with a pair of doubles and a RBI in the loss.
The Bulls got out to a quick start on Saturday as Phillip Tomasulo opened the game with a double to right field before he advanced to third on Alex Thrower’s ground out. Ben Haefner then singled to right field to score Tomasulo and Vinny Mallaro singled to right to give UB a pair of base runners with the 1-0 lead. Kwitzer then dug in and notched a RBI single to center field, his team-best seventh RBI of the season, to give the Bulls the 2-0 lead through the top half of the first.
Murray State didn’t waste any time getting those runs back as they scored an unearned run after a pair of Buffalo errors. Tyler Lawrence was then able to take Charlie Sobieraski deep to center field as his homer brought in a pair of runs to give the Racers the 3-2 lead. Jack Hranec then connected on a solo home run to give the home side the 4-2 edge after one inning.
The Racers added a run in the bottom of the second inning as Brandon Gutzler singled to left field to bring home Jaron Robinson home and give the home team the 5-2 lead.
After a scoreless third inning, the Bulls were able to notch a run in the fourth inning as Brian Dudek tripled to right and came around to score on a Murray State error. The Bulls then made it 5-4 in the fifth inning as Kwitzer opened the inning with a double and Kyle Brennan connected on a RBI single up the middle.
The Buffalo bats then went cold as they went scoreless over the next four innings while the Racers blew the game open. They connected on two runs in the bottom of the seventh and five runs in the eighth on a pair of homers.
Kwitzer finished off his afternoon going 3-for-5 with a pair of doubles, a RBI and a run scored as he has notched three games with at least three hits and leads the Bulls with a .474 batting average and seven RBI through the first five games of the season. Haefner continued to swing a good bat as he finished his afternoon going 2-for-5 with a RBI while Brennan went 2-for-5 with a double and RBI and Mallaro notched his second straight two-hit game going 2-for-5.
Sobieraski struggled early on as he went 5.0 innings while allowing five hits, three earned runs and striking out four batters in the loss. Andrew White came out of the bullpen and pitched 2.0 innings, allowing three hits and two unearned runs.
The Bulls and Racers will return to the diamond on Sunday in the rubber game of a three-game series. First pitch is set for 1:00 pm and UB will send junior Shawn Dubin to the mound.
from UBBulls.com via IFTTT
