Marshall University Athletics
Baseball Sweeps Doubleheader from Buffalo
3/30/2002 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Baseball Sweeps Doubleheader from Buffalo
3/30/2002
Huntington, W.Va.?The Marshall University baseball team swept a doubleheader from the University at Buffalo today at University Heights. In the first game, Marshall defeated Buffalo 4-0. The Thundering Herd completed the sweep with a 7-6 victory in the nightcap. Marshall improves to 10-12 on the season, 3-2 in conference, while Buffalo falls to 6-9, 1-2 in conference.
?Pitching, along with some key hits, is what enabled us to win today,? head coach Dave Piepenbrink said. ?Chris Fritz pitched extremely well in the first game by mixing his pitches. Rick Suter did a great job of getting the ball over the plate and allowed our defense to make some plays.
In the first game, Fritz pitched the Thundering Herd?s first complete game shutout of the season, allowing only five hits over seven innings. In addition, Fritz struck out five without allowing a walk.
Despite only getting three hits in the game, Marshall was able to manage all the runs they needed in the fifth. Craig Dziedziejko put the Thundering Herd ahead when his sacrifice fly scored Mike Koitsopoulos. Ryan Kobbe put the game away when his double to center field scored Gregg Hiller, Joe Shetler and David Colangelo.
Buffalo was unable to mount a threat and Marshall went on to win 4-0. Mike Leslie (0-3) took the loss for the Bulls, allowing two hits and four runs over 4.2 innings.
In the second game, Marshall fell behind early 6-2 but was able to rally for the 7-6 victory.
MU grabbed the early lead in the first inning. A ground out by Matt White scored Colangelo and Dziedziejko followed with a double that allowed Clay DeSantis to come home.
However, Buffalo grabbed the lead with six runs in the bottom of the third. They key hit was a two run double by Brandon DiCeasre that scored Tim Sova and Brian Zelesko. The Bulls scored their sixth run of the inning when John Boom singled to right field, scoring Adrian Daniels.
Marshall, however, was able to score five unanswered runs the rest of the way. After scoring a run in the fourth to cut the lead to 6-3, Marshall scored four in the seventh to take the lead for good.
A double by White scored Colangelo and the UB lead was cut to two. Then, Homer Renshaw hit a single up the middle with the bases loaded, scoring Dziedziejko and White to tie the game. Marshall finally took the lead when Aaron Amburgey was able to beat out a slow roller to the second baseman that allowed Kobbe to come home.
The Bulls had chances to score in the last two innings, however, Brian Shade was able to prevent UB from scoring in recording his second save of the season.
Rick Suter (1-5) pitched seven innings, allowing only three earned runs, in recording his first victory of the season. Brendan Dunford (1-4) took the loss for Buffalo.
The four game series will conclude on Sunday, March 31, at 1:00 p.m. at University Heights.
