University at Buffalo - The State University of New York

Published: May 20, 2004

Baseball

UB 10, Niagara 8
Central Michigan 10-7, UB 2-2
Central Michigan 6, UB 4

UB closed out the home portion of its schedule in grand fashion on May 12 with a 10-8 victory over Niagara at Amherst Audubon Field. With the aid of a six-run fourth inning, the Bulls were able to jump out to a 9-2 lead before thwarting a Niagara rally and holding on for the two-run victory.

The Bulls took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning when an RBI groundout by Andrew Wengert scored Joe Mihalics. Niagara tied the game, 1-1, in the top of the second inning on an RBI double by Brian Clifford. A sacrifice fly by David Amaro plated Chris McGraw in the bottom of the second inning to give the Bulls a 2-1 lead. UB tacked on another run in the bottom of the third inning on an RBI triple by Wengert to go ahead, 3-1.

After Niagara scored a run in the top of the fourth inning, the Bulls erupted for six runs in the bottom half of the inning to take a 9-2 lead. Mihalics drew a bases-loaded walk, Wengert drove in two on a Niagara fielding error, James Kingsley smacked an RBI double and Mike Connelly hit a two-run double to account for the scoring. The double by Kingsley was his 17th of the year, giving him the UB record for two-baggers in a season.

A solo home run by Jeff Vincent in the top of the seventh inning and a three-run shot by Michael Medici in the top of the eighth inning cut the Bulls' advantage to 9-6. Mihalics tripled to left centerfield to lead off the bottom of the eighth inning and later scored when Kingsley grounded into a double play to give the Bulls a 10-6 lead. The triple by Mihalics was his 70th hit of the year, setting the UB record for hits in a season.

Niagara scored a pair of runs in the top of the ninth inning and had the go-ahead run at the plate before Sean McWilliams entered the game and got Medici to ground into a game-ending double play. McWilliams earned his third save of the season.

UB starter Mark Tourangeau allowed two runs on four hits and struck out seven over five innings to pick up his fourth win of the season.

The Bulls were swept in a three-game MAC series at Central Michigan. On Saturday, UB dropped both games of a doubleheader, 7-2 and 10-2. On Sunday, the Bulls fell to the Chippewas, 6-4. UB is now 15-34 overall and 4-15 in league play.

In Saturday's series opener, UB took a 2-0 lead in the top of the third inning on a two-run double by Kingsley that scored Mihalics and Wengert.

UB starting pitcher Eric Kelly got off to a great start, allowing only two hits and striking out four through the first four innings to preserve the 2-0 advantage. However, the freshman hurler made his first mistake of the game in the bottom of the fifth inning when Jim Geldhof connected on a three-run home run to give Central Michigan a 3-2 lead. After scoring a run in the seventh, Kurtis Wells hit another three-run shot in the bottom of the eighth inning to make the score 7-2.

T.J. Johnson pitched a complete game to earn the win for Central Michigan. Kelly was charged with the loss.

In game two, the Bulls jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the top of the fourth inning on an RBI single by McGraw that scored Mihalics. The Chippewas answered with three runs in the bottom of the fourth inning. The key blow was a two-run double by Bryan Mitzel. The Bulls got a run back in the top of the fifth inning on an RBI double by John Boom to cut the lead to 3-2. However, Geldhof struck again in the bottom of the fifth inning with his second three-run home run of the afternoon. It capped a four-run fifth inning to extend the Central Michigan lead to 7-2. The Chippewas added a pair of runs in the seventh inning and a run in the eighth inning before cruising to the victory.

After allowing seven runs over five innings, UB starter Adam Ruszkowski was charged with the loss. The Bulls collected nine hits in the game, including two apiece by Kingsley and Amaro.

After falling behind 6-1 in Sunday's finale, the Bulls rallied, but fell to the Chippewas, 6-4.

UB got on the scoreboard first when Kingsley singled home Al Barbato to give the Bulls a 1-0 lead. Central Michigan answered with a run in the bottom of the first inning to tie the contest, 1-1, and Geldhof drove in his second run of the game in the bottom of the second inning to give the Chippewas a 2-1 lead. Mitzel launched a two-run home run in the bottom of the third inning and added a solo shot in the bottom of the fifth inning to help extend the Chippewas' lead to 6-1.

Kingsley led off the seventh inning with a double and later scored on an RBI single by Phil Vanhorne to cut the Central Michigan advantage to 6-2. The Bulls inched another run closer in the top of the eighth inning when Wengert singled home Brian Zelasko. UB cut the lead to 6-4 in the top of the ninth inning when Steve Legrett scored on an RBI groundout by Barbato. With runners on second and third, Mihalics grounded out to the shortstop to end the game.

McGraw allowed four runs over two innings and was charged with the loss. After McGraw was pulled, the bullpen pitched well for UB as McWilliams, Jeff Loveys and Dustin Clark combined to hold the Chippewas to two runs on three hits over six innings.

UB will conclude the season with a three-game MAC series at Marshall this weekend.

Outdoor track and field

Koeppel, Esler, Heim win MAC individual titles

Three UB track-and-field athletes scored individual titles to lead the Bulls at the MAC Championships in Oxford, Ohio. UB's men tied for sixth with Ball State among nine teams at 66 points, while the women finished eighth in a 12-team field with 46 points.

Central Michigan's men (112 points) and Kent State's women (156 points) won the league team titles. The three individual champions are the most that UB has fielded in its participation in the MAC.

Jenny Koeppel opened the meet on May 13 with a convincing victory in the women's 10,000-meter run, taking the race in 35:43.27, nearly 20 seconds ahead of the second-place finisher, Ball State's Jill Scully (36:02.94). The clocking by Koeppel also broke the school record of 36:21.54 set by Stacey Strothmann in 1995—the second-oldest record remaining on the women's outdoor list—and was a personal best for the UB junior by three minutes. Koeppel became UB's first MAC track-event champion. Previously, UB's MAC champions had all been in field or multi events. Koeppel completed her strong distance performance on Saturday with a third-place finish in the 5,000-meter race in 16:59.32.

Friday's competition was highlighted by a men's decathlon championship for senior Steve Esler, giving the Bulls two consecutive champions in the event. Esler won the competition with a two-day total of 6,998 points, rallying from fourth place after Thursday's first day of competition. He won both of Friday's throwing events, the discus and javelin. In his discus victory, Esler threw a season-best 137-2 (41.82m), while also capturing the javelin with a throw of 167-11 (51.19m). Esler's discus toss was more than eight feet better than the second-place competitor. He also finished second in the pole-vault portion of the event with a season-best height of 14-5.25 (4.40m). On Saturday, Esler scored a third-place finish in the open high jump, tying his season-best mark with a height of 6-8.75 (2.05m), a quarter-inch off his UB record in the event.

Also on Saturday, freshman Brian Heim gave UB its third MAC individual title in three days. Heim earned the 400-meter hurdles title with his 51.95 second clocking, a tenth of a second ahead of Ball State's Kurt Kinkead (52.05). The time broke the UB record for the event of 52.81 set by Brian Williams in the 1999 season and also qualified Heim for the NCAA East Regional Championships. Later, Heim combined with Derrick Frenney, Tom Abbey and Bryan Weinstein to turn in a season-best 3:17.51 showing in the 4x400 relay as the UB foursome placed seventh.

UB also got some other impressive performances over the weekend. Laura Olson, last season's MAC champion in the pole vault, finished second at 13-3.50 (4.05m) behind Akron's Kira Sims. Sims, who became the first MAC woman to clear 14 feet the previous weekend, vaulted 14-1.25 (4.30m) to claim the title, establishing a new MAC record. Olson also cleared the previous MAC record, which was 13-2.25 (4.03m), set in 2002 by Eastern Michigan's Hanna Palaama.

Sophomore Reggie Rucker scored a second-place finish in the men's long jump competition. Rucker turned in a leap of 24-0.25 (7.32m), a quarter-inch off his season-best mark and a half-inch off the NCAA Regional qualifying distance. Kent State's Marc Mitchell won the title at 24-7.75 (7.51m). UB's men also scored a pair of individuals in the triple jump competition. Freshman Rayshon Higgins bettered his regional qualifying mark with his third-place finish at 50-0 (15.24m), while Rucker finished fifth at 47-1.75 (14.37m).

Allison Laske broke her own school record in the 1,500-meters in 4:24.67 to finish third overall on Saturday. The time shaved nearly three seconds off her previous record-setting showing at last month's Bucknell Bison Outdoor Classic. Laske also turned in a seventh-place finish in the 800-meters in 2:10.62.

UB's women's heptathletes finished fourth and sixth in their two-day competition as Meagan Rogers placed fourth with 4,793 points and Patrice Coney was sixth at 4,584 points. Rogers finished third in Friday's javelin event at 108-2 (32.97m), while Coney's top second-day performance was a fifth-place showing in the 800-meters in 2:23.12.

Freshman Paul Riley took sixth in the 800-meters (1:52.75), while Weinstein was seventh in the 200-meters (22.10). The men's 4x100 foursome of Weinstein, Gary Asbach, Frenney and Roy Richards scored UB's best relay finish of the meet in 41.76 seconds to place fourth.

Sarah Vance walked away with a seventh-place finish in the shot put at 47-0.25 (14.33m) and added a ninth-place finish in the discus at 131-0 (39.94m).

Freshman Stacy Downer tied a school record with her finish in the 400-meter preliminaries with a 55.84 showing, tying the mark set in 2000 by Udo Okeke and earning a spot in the finals, where she finished ninth in 57.14.

Both of UB's women's relay squads placed seventh to complete the meet. The 4x100 relay team of Dana Ventrone, Pauletta Dickerson, Charisse Everett and Downer finished in 47.51 seconds. The 4x400 relay squad of Downer, Celestine Coney, Vashone Wallace and Dickerson raced to a season-best 3:47.22 showing.

The NCAA East Regional meet will be held May 28-29 in Gainesville, Fla. Only those individuals who have attained qualifying marks in their events during the season will compete. The top five finishers from each event will move on to the NCAA Outdoor Championships in Austin, Texas.