Eagles Stun Bulls with Four-Run Ninth to Claim 4-3 Win

BUFFALO, N.Y. (EMUEagles.com)— Down to its final out and trailing, 2-0, the Eastern Michigan University baseball team put together a furious four-run rally to steal a 4-3 victory from the University at Buffalo Sunday afternoon, May 13. Bo Kinder knocked in the tying run on EMU's fourth straight hit in the ninth and made it all the way home himself for the eventual winning tally on a botched UB relay attempt.

Buffalo's starting pitcher Michael Burke was just one strike away from tossing a complete-game shutout, but Daniel Russell notched a base hit on an 0-2 pitch to keep the inning alive. John Rubino then drove the first pitch he saw up the middle and Adam Dennison singled to score Russell.

River McWilliams (0-5) relieved Burke to try and make the final out against the pinch hitter Kinder. Kinder came through with a hit to right field. Under normal circumstances, Kinder's knock would have only plated the lead runner Rubino and tied the score at two. However, aggressive base running by Kinder an untimely error by Buffalo first baseman Alex Baldock allowed not only Taylor Dimmerling—who pinch ran for Dennison— to score, but also gave Kinder a clear path home as well. Kinder made it in safely to shock the home crowd and take a 4-2 lead.

Kinder's run turned out to be critical as Buffalo pushed a run across in the ninth and loaded the bases off of Joe Battistelli, who plunked two UB batters in the inning. Battistell ended up recording the final out on a fielder's choice and escaped with his sixth save of 2012.

Ryan Lavoie (4-3) was credited with the win Sunday despite being pulled from the starting rotation for the first time in MAC play. He pitched one-plus innings and gave up two runs on three hits. Starter Collin Taylor nearly took a tough-luck loss, but received a no-decision after 7.1 stellar innings in which he allowed just one earned run on five hits.

The Eagles (24-25; 14-10 MAC) amassed just three hits through the first 8.2 innings, but finished the game with seven knocks. Rubino and Dennison each posted 2-for-4 afternoons and Russell and Brent Ohrman were each 1-for-4. Ben Magsig went 0-for-5 and did not reach base for the first time in 33 games.

The Bulls (15-32; 8-15 MAC) had three players turn in multiple-hit performances. Matt Pollock, Jason Kanzler and Dan Scahill were each 2-for-4.

Eastern Michigan posted a scoring threat in the opening inning with runners on first and second and one out, but Burke recorded back-to-back flyouts to get out of the jam. Then in the fourth, Rubino loaded the bases on a single through the left side. Again, Burke was able to wiggle his way out of trouble as he sent Dennison down on strikes.

Tom Murphy put Buffalo on the scoreboard in the bottom of the fourth when he touched home plate on a sacrifice fly. The Bulls put another runner in scoring position in the sixth when a Taylor wild pitch allowed Kanzler to take second base. A swift pickoff move from Taylor caught Kanzler napping too far off base and the UB threat was negated.

With Burke still going strong on the hill, Buffalo appeared to have the game wrapped up when Kanzler poked an RBI single up the middle to make it a 2-0 score. Fortunately for Jay Alexander's squad, the EMU bats had just enough juice left to mount an unlikely ninth-inning rally.

The 2012 regular season comes to an end this week starting with a neutral site game in Avon, Ohio against Kent State University Tuesday, May 15, at 5 p.m. The game will not count toward MAC standings. The Eagles' final conference series will be played against West Division leader University of Toledo Thursday-Saturday, May 17-19, in Toledo, Ohio. EMU will enter that three-game set in third place in the MAC West—two games behind Toledo and one in back of Central Michigan University.

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Team Stats

John Rubino

Adam Dennison

Brent Ohrman

Daniel Russell

Eastern Michigan Athletics