NORMAN, OK – The University at Buffalo baseball team (4-6, 0-0 MAC) fell behind 15-1 through two innings and they weren’t able to climb out of the hole as they fell on the road to No. 13 Oklahoma 16-10 on Thursday night. Vinny Mallaro finished off his solid day at the plate going 3-for-5 with two RBI in the loss.
The Bulls struck first on Thursday night as Alex Thrower opened the game with a walk and Brian Dudek backed that up with a bunt single that forced an Oklahoma throwing error, allowing both to move into scoring position. Ben Haefner then dug in and grounded out to shortstop, allowing Thrower to come across home plate and give UB the 1-0 edge through the top of the first inning.
The explosive Sooners wasted no time taking over the game in the bottom half of the first inning as they crossed 11 runners across home plate to take the 11-1 lead. The Sooners collected four RBI singles, two RBI doubles and a 3-run homer to right center field to force a Buffalo pitching change in the first inning.
After Oklahoma added four runs in the bottom of the second inning to make it 15-1 in favor of the home team, the Bulls got back two runs in the top of the fourth inning. Andrew Taft collected a RBI infield single to score Jeff Palczewski from third and Phillip Tomasulo walked with the bases loaded to allow Kyle Brennan to touch home, making it 15-3 in favor of the Sooners.
Buffalo cut into the Sooners lead again in the fifth inning as Haefner was able to score on a balk before Brian Wasilewski platted Palczewski with a RBI single to center field, making the score 15-5 in favor of Oklahoma.
The UB bats stayed hot in the sixth inning as the Bulls were able to put up five more runs to cut the Sooners lead to 15-10. Dudek singled through the right side to score Eddie Edwards III before Vinny Mallaro connected on a 2-RBI single to left field to score Dudek and Thrower.
The Sooners added a run in the bottom of the seventh to take the 16-10 lead and the Bulls weren’t able to make the comeback on the road against their nationally-ranked foe.
Mallaro stayed hot at the plate on Thursday as he collected his third three-hit game of the season going 3-for-5 at the dish with two RBI and a run scored. Palczweski finished off the best game of his career going 2-for-3 with two runs scored while Connor Regan had a strong day for the Bulls as he went 1-for-3 with two RBI. Haefner and Thrower each finished with two runs in the loss to the Sooners.
Caleb Kish allowed just four hits and one run across two innings of work on the mound while Chris Miranda finished off the game in the ninth with a pair of strikeouts and didn’t allow a hit.
The Bulls and Sooners will meet again tomorrow at 7:30 pm in Norman, OK. The Bulls will send junior righty Charlie Sobieraski to the mound on Friday.
