University at Buffalo - The State University of New York

Published: March 23, 2006

Wrestling

Bulls complete NCAA Championships

A season of high hopes was on the line Friday for both Central Michigan's No. 1-seed, Wynn Michalak, and UB's No. 2-seed, senior Kyle Cerminara.

Both upset in earlier rounds of the NCAA Championships, the two faced off in the All-America round of the tournament.

Unfortunately for Cerminara, UB's all-time winningest wrestler, he came up short against Michalak for the third time this season, losing 7-5 and ending his chances of becoming UB's first two-time wrestling All-American since Jim Capone earned the honors in 1987-88 and 1988-89 at the Division II level.

Cerminara, who earned All-American honors in 2004, wraps up a career in which he won a school-record 41 matches as a junior and set school records for dual meet takedowns in a career (186) and in a season (64, 2004).

This season, he became the first UB wrestler to earn a Division I national ranking of second in the InterMat/NWCA poll. He also won a school record 34 straight matches and his 39-4 record is tied for second most wins in a season in school history.

In action involving other UB wrestlers, junior Mark Budd's season came to an end with a 7-0 loss to Penn State's Jake Strayer at 133 pounds. Strayer managed three takedowns, one in each period, to control the match.

Budd finished the year 38-6, the fourth-best wins total in school history

and the eighth best single-season winning percentage. He took home six tournament titles, including his first MAC Championship ring.

The heavyweight Cinderella story of senior Harold Sherrell ended, as he fell to Wyoming's Dusty Hoffschneider, 15-3, in the wrestleback round. The fifth-year senior wraps up a tremendous 35-9 season that featured four tournament championships. His career record of 83-59 is among the top 10 in UB history.

The Bulls finished 46th with five points in the 68-team field.

Baseball

Alcorn State 12, UB 8
Southeastern Louisiana 5, UB 3
UB 12, Loyola (New Orleans) 4
New Orleans 8, UB 1
New Orleans 14, UB 3
New Orleans 6, UB 5

UB managed just one win in six games during a spring-break trip to Mississippi and Louisiana.

A three-run sixth inning helped Alcorn State overtake UB in action on March 14. The next day, Richard Imhoff sparked Southeastern Louisiana with a 3-for-4, three-run performance as it beat the Bulls, 5-3.

Sparked by an error, the Bulls snapped a scoreless tie in the sixth inning by exploding for eight runs-and throwing off an eight-game losing streak-in an impressive 12-4 win over NAIA-school Loyola (New Orleans) on March 16.

Buoyed by an 8-for-13 performance from the heart of the order and seven innings of five-hit baseball from ace Bryan Cryer, the University of New Orleans pulled away from UB with an 8-1 win on Friday afternoon. The Bulls' lone run was a seventh-inning solo home run from senior James Kingsley-an opposite field blast to right for the first baseman's first homer of the year and 21st of his career.

On Saturday, the bottom six batters in the New Orleans lineup combined for 12 hits and 11 runs as the Privateers routed the Bulls, 14-3.

In the finale on Sunday, Jason Schwab hit a bases loaded single to break a 5-5 tie in the bottom of the ninth inning to give New Orleans a 6-5 victory over the Bulls.

The Bulls will play their home and conference opener this weekend when Central Michigan comes to town for a three-game series. The first game will be at 3 p.m. tomorrow at Amherst Audubon Field.

Softball

Northern Illinois 9, UB 0
South Florida 6, UB 3
Fordham 15, UB 5
UB 8, Canisius 0
Dartmouth 5, UB 2
UB 7, Fordham 4<
Illinois-Chicago 2, UB 0
Elon 5, UB 4
UB 3, George Mason 2
Ohio 13, UB 4

UB spent the spring break in Tampa, playing in two tournaments hosted by South Florida—the Spring Break Classic March 14 and 15 and the Speedline Invitational Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

The Bulls got off to a tough start as Northern Illinois' Taryn Hagemann threw a five-inning no-hitter and the Huskies defeated the Bulls, 9-0, in a non-conference game between the two MAC schools.

In the second game of the tournament, UB fell to South Florida, 6-3. The Bulls got off to an early lead in the game, scoring two runs in the first inning. South Florida got one back in the bottom of the first, but UB regained its two run lead in the third. However, South Florida scored three runs in the bottom of that inning and scored one more run in the fourth and sixth, respectively.

Fordham jumped out to an early 4-0 lead, but in the bottom of the second Erin Zilka hit her third home run of the season, a solo shot, to put the Bulls on the board. The Rams scored five in the fourth inning to take a 9-1 lead, but UB fought back with four runs in the bottom of the fifth. Fordham added six runs in the sixth inning to take the 15-5 victory.

In the 8-0 win against Canisius to open the Speedline Invitational, the Bulls found their offensive power as pitcher Sophie Barstad recorded four RBIs, as well as the complete game, shutout win.

In what was just the fifth game of the season for Dartmouth, the Big Green put forth a strong effort against UB. The Bulls took an early lead in the contest, but couldn't hang on, losing 5-2.

In a 7-4 win against Fordham, Barstad again was the hero for the Bulls, finishing as the winning pitcher and going 2-for-3 at the plate with four RBIs, including a two-run home run.

UB got another solid pitching performance from Barstad as she pitched a complete game against Illinois-Chicago. The Flames, however, hit a two-run home run in the bottom of the fourth, the only runs scored in the contest.

The Bulls looked like they had a victory against Elon as they took a 4-1 lead into the seventh inning. But Elon scored a run and then got a three-run shot to win the contest.

Against George Mason, Barstad took control-pitching a complete game and also driving in two runs. The 3-2 victory allowed UB to advance to the consolation bracket of the Speedline Invitational. However, UB had a tough time with a hot Ohio squad that scored 13 runs to only 4 for the Bulls.

The Bulls will head south again this weekend to play in the East Carolina State Farm Pirate Classic.

Tennis

Men's

UB 4, Dayton 3
UB 7, Bloomsburg 0
UB 5, Denison 1

The Bulls were undefeated in three matches during a spring break trip to Hilton Head, S.C. UB opened with a 4-3 win over Dayton, which gave the Bulls a 3-0 mark against Atlantic 10 opponents this season. UB then scored a 7-0 shutout over Division II Bloomsburg. The Bulls dodged the raindrops and rallied for five singles wins to defeat Denison, 5-1. Their final match, against Marist, was rained out. UB is now 7-4 overall and the winner of five in a row.

Women's

UB 6, Hillsborough CC 3
UB 7, Manhattan 0
UCF 5, UB 2

UB spent the spring break in Florida playing three matches. The Bulls opened with wins over a top junior college program, Hillsborough CC (6-3) and a neutral site victory over Manhattan (7-0). However the Bulls' five-match winning streak was snapped by the University of Central Florida in a 5-2 decision that lasted more than five hours.

Track and Field

Outdoor season opens at UNCW Seahawk Invite

UB kicked off the outdoor men's and women's track-and-field season at the two-day Seahawk Invitational hosted by the University of North Carolina-Wilmington. The UB men finished a distant runner-up to the host Seahawks with 84 points to UNCW's 275 in the eight-team meet. The UB women placed third among six schools, scoring 82 points as UNCW took first place with 317.

The UB men and women won three events apiece and qualified one individual for the NCAA East Regional Championships at the end of the season.

In the women's meet, senior Jen Jezorski took the 800-meter run in 2:15.67. Sophomore Carrie Hinners claimed the pole vault with a height of 3.42m. The UB women also posted a relay victory when the 4x400-meter team took first in 3:59.34.

For the men, Roy Richards scored a victory in the long jump with a distance of 7.42m. The mark qualified the junior for the regional meet this May. Senior sprinter Bryan Weinstein won the 200-meters in 21.95 and junior distance specialist Dan McKenna took first in the 3000-meter steeplechase in 9:11.37.

The Bulls will return to the Tar Heel State this weekend for the Raleigh Relays.