University at Buffalo - The State University of New York

Published: April 22, 2004

Baseball

Miami (OH) 13, UB 4
Miami (OH) 7, UB 6

Inclement weather hampered last week's schedule for UB, with three of the five scheduled games wiped out. But the Bulls did play a pair of Mid-American Conference contests at home, dropping decisions to Miami (OH) 13-4 on Friday and 7-6 on Saturday. A doubleheader at Duquesne and Sunday's finale against the RedHawks were cancelled due to rain.

In Friday's opener against Miami, starting pitcher Chris McGraw and the Bulls cruised through the first five innings. However, the RedHawks scored five runs in the top of the sixth inning to ignite a rally that resulted in a 13-4 victory over the Bulls.

Five of the first six Miami outs were strikeouts by McGraw. The junior hurler shut out the RedHawks on two hits and struck out nine through five innings. The Bulls scored two runs in the bottom of the first inning on RBI singles by James Kingsley and David Amaro, and held the 2-0 lead through five innings. However, Miami scored five runs in the top of the sixth inning to take a 5-2 lead.

Amaro struck again for the Bulls in the bottom of the seventh inning with a two-run double that cut the RedHawks' lead to 5-4. However, a solo home run and two two-run doubles helped Miami score six runs in the top of the eighth inning to take an 11-4 lead. The RedHawks added a pair of runs in the top of the ninth inning.

On Saturday, the Bulls rallied but fell just short against Miami, 7-6. Trailing 7-4 in the bottom of the ninth inning, the Bulls scored two runs and had the tying run on third, but couldn't capitalize and dropped their second straight game to the RedHawks.

The loss dropped the Bulls to 7-22 overall and 1-6 in the MAC.

Softball

UB 1, Bowling Green 0
Bowling Green 4, UB 0
Ohio 1, UB 0 (12)
Ohio 2, UB 1
UB 2, Ohio 1

UB split its 2004 home-opening doubleheader with the visiting Bowling Green Falcons on April 15 at Nan Harvey Field. Game one was a defensive duel that featured two of the top pitchers in the MAC-UB's Stacey Evans and BGSU's Liz Vrabel. Bulls made a 1-0 lead after one inning of play stand up for their fifth shutout of the year. Bowling Green responded with a 4-0 shutout of its own in the nightcap.

On Saturday, UB suffered two one-run losses at Ohio, losing 1-0 in 12 innings in the opener and dropping a 2-1 decision in the nightcap. The opener remained a scoreless tie through 11 innings before the Bobcats finally scored in the bottom of the 12th.

In the nightcap, the Bobcats put two runs across the plate in the second inning. The Bulls scored their first run of the afternoon in the top of the fifth on an RBI-single by Ann Magur that scored freshman Mary Russell, who had reached base with a double to left center. The Bobcats held on to the one-run lead, however.

The Bulls avenged the losses with a come-from-behind, 2-1 victory on Sunday to conclude the series. UB capitalized on two Ohio errors to score two runs in the top of the seventh inning, moving their record to 14-18 overall and 5-6 in the MAC.

Outdoor Track and Field

Bulls Capture UB Open Titles

UB claimed the men's and women's titles on Saturday at the UB Open in UB Stadium. The UB men won 11 events and tied for first in another to finish with 167.5 points, with Syracuse second at 128 and Binghamton third with 88.5. The UB women scored 162 points behind nine event winners to outdistance Syracuse (139.5) and Binghamton (60.5).

UB's Laura Olson broke her own pole vault record and established a new UB Stadium mark with her victory on Saturday. Olson vaulted 13-5.50 (4.10m), nearly four inches better than her previous school record. The vault also surpassed the UB Stadium mark of 12-5.50 (3.80m).

Freshman Stacy Downer won two sprint events for the Bulls. Downer took the 200-meter dash in 25.01 and the 400-meter dash in 56.95.

Other women's individual winners included Jennifer Jezorski in the 800-meters (2:15.88), Jenny Koeppel in the 5,000-meters (17:40.95), Celestine Coney in the 400-meter hurdles (1:03.73) and Patrice Coney in the heptathlon (4,661 points). UB also swept the relays.

In the men's meet, Steve Esler became a double-winner by virtue of his first-place tie in the high jump. Esler cleared 6-3.50 (1.92m) on the high jump to tie with Binghamton's Nick Tillman. In Friday's opening session, Esler won the javelin with a toss of 168-2.75 (51.28m). The throw was more than 24 feet better than his previous best set two weeks earlier at the McDonald's Invitational.

Other field-event winners for the Bulls included Reggie Rucker in the long jump (24-0.50, 7.33m) and Rayshon Higgins in the triple jump (47-5.25, 14.46m). Sprinter Bryan Weinstein took first place in the 400-meters in 49.44. UB also got distance victories from Andy Wigton in the 1,500-meters (4:00.59) and Dan McKenna in the 3,000-meter steeplechase (9:37.36).

Multi-event specialist Todd Joki won the decathlon, scoring 6,538 points, more than 1,000 ahead of second-place Johnson Palas of Syracuse.

UB also swept the men's hurdle competitions as Erich Smithson took the 110-meter distance in 15.06 and Brian Heim won the 400-meter event in 53.23. The Bulls also swept the relay races.

Tennis

WOMEN'S

Toledo 4, UB 3
Eastern Michigan 7, UB 0

UB dropped a pair of matches over the weekend, suffering a heartbreaking, 4-3, loss to Toledo on Friday and a 7-0 defeat by Eastern Michigan in the regular season finale on Saturday.

The Bulls are now 8-10 overall, 1-8 MAC as they head into this week's league tournament.

In Friday's match at Toledo, the Rockets claimed the doubles point with victories in two of the three matches.

UB started singles play in a 2-0 hole as the Bulls were forced to default the number two match, which proved to be the difference in the final score. UB took three of the four matches at the third through sixth flights. With the match tied at 3-3, the first singles match between UB's Miglena Nenova and Toledo's Myriam Cueva proved to be a thriller. Nenova took the opening set, 6-3, but was unable to close the match. Cueva swept the final two sets 6-2, 6-1.

UB was unable to claim a set in the loss to Eastern Michigan on Saturday.

UB, seeded ninth, will play Toledo, the number eight seed, today in the MAC Championships in Rockford, Ill.

MEN'S

Bulls to face Toledo in MAC first round

Like the UB women, the men (8-11 overall, 2-3 MAC) also drew Toledo as their first-round opponent in the MAC Tournament. The Bulls, seeded fourth, will take on the fifth-seeded Rockets this afternoon at Ball State University.

Crew

UB to inaugurate Harvey Cup

The inaugural Harvey Cup will be contested on Sunday as crew teams from UB and Eastern Michigan University begin an ongoing series.

The Harvey Cup, named for the late Nan Harvey, UB associate athletic director, will be awarded to the winning team of the final race of the day, the varsity eight, and will remain with that team until the next season. The races will be held on Tonawanda Creek at the UB Rowing Boathouse in Amherst's Veterans Canal Park.

UB and Eastern Michigan are the only two programs in the MAC that sponsor crew at the varsity intercollegiate level

Five races are slated, with the Bulls and Eagles competing in the varsity four, first and second novice eight, and first and second varsity eight competitions. Racing is expected to begin at 8 a.m., with the final race starting around 9 a.m.

Football

Bulls wrap up spring practices

UB wrapped up spring practices on Saturday with a spirited scrimmage at Ralph Wilson Stadium in Orchard Park.

In a modified scoring format, the White team (offense) scored a 44-16 win over the Blue (defense). However, the offense got 21 of those points in goal-line situations and the defense made nine stops out of 18 possessions, including a pair of fourth-down stops.

The Bulls will open the 2004 season at MAC rival Eastern Michigan on Sept. 2.