DEKALB, IL - The University at Buffalo baseball team collected its first conference series victory of the season, defeating Northern Illinois, 11-7, in the rubber match of a three-game series on Sunday afternoon at Ralph McKenzie Field.
After two complete innings, the Bulls trailed the Huskies, 3-1. In
the top of the third, Buffalo tallied three runs to take a 4-3
lead. The Bulls tied the contest at 3-3 as senior Rob
Lawler drilled a single down the right field line, driving
in seniors Bobby
Pizzuto and Brad
Agustin. Agustin's score was the 136th run of his career,
tying former Bull Joe Mihalics' (2002-05) all-time career
record.
In the bottom of the third, Northern Illinois scored three runs to take a 6-4 lead in the contest.
Buffalo erased the Huskies' lead in the top of the fifth off four runs. A pair of the runs came off errors by the Huskies including a throwing error and a passed ball.
Looking to rally, the Huskies found a run in the bottom of the fifth to pull within a run, 8-7, off a ground out to second with a runner on third. Northern Illinois' tally in the fifth would be the only run they could generate due to solid pitching by reliever Kevin Crumb.
Preventing the chance of a late rally by Northern Illinois, UB added a pair of runs for an 11-7 lead and eventual victory. Rosenbeck recorded his fourth RBI of the contest off an RBI double to left field, scoring Skonieczki. Next at bat, Tom Murphy posted his second RBI single.
In 6.2 innings of work, Crumb (2-0) collected the victory for the Bulls. The sophomore, allowed only two hits and a run while striking out three batters.
Agustin went 4-for-6 including his record-tying run. Both Skonieczki and Murphy collected three hits each. Off a pair of hits, Rosenbeck tallied a game-high four RBIs.
The Bulls (13-11, 3-3 MAC) return home to host Toledo in a three-game conference series at Amherst Audubon Field. Action begins on Friday, April 9 at 3:00 pm.