The no. 6 seed Buffalo Bulls beat up on Seth Varner to edge past the Miami RedHawks in the Mid-American Conference Tournament's opening game.
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Buffalo | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 15 | 1 |
| Miami | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 9 | 0 |
WP- Kevin Hughes (8.1 IP, 9 H, 5 R/ER, 1 BB, 6 K)
LP- Seth Varner (7 IP, 12 H, 5 R/ER, 2 BB, 12 K)
SV- Mike Kaelin (0.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 0 K)
Miami started to build a rally in the bottom of the ninth for a comeback victory with a single from Chad Sedio to start the inning, followed by a 1-out double by second baseman Steve Sada. That ended the day for Buffalo's starting pitcher Kevin Hughes, where Mike Kaelin came in to close, but he didn't make things easy. Sedio would score on a sacrifice fly by Ryan Elble, then Dan Walsh walked on four straight balls, but the rally and the game ended on a John Crummy flyout to left-center field.
Varner, the MAC Pitcher of the Year, had a rough outing in his seven innings of work with 12 hits against him, including three hits off of third baseman Mike Burke. Burke was 3-for-5 at the plate with a double and scored twice.
Miami will play tomorrow in Game 6 at 1 p.m. against the loser of tonight's Central Michigan vs. Akron matchup. Buffalo plays tomorrow at 4:30 in Game 7 of the tournament against the winner of that same CMU/Akron game.