BUFFALO, N.Y. – The NIU baseball team (8-21, 4-3 MAC) fell to Buffalo (9-16, 2-2 MAC) in the series opener 6-3 Saturday night. The Huskies started down 2-0, rallied back to lead 3-2 before the Bulls scored four unanswered to pull away.
 
"This is a disappointing loss for us tonight because we battled enough to take a lead and stay in the game but couldn't find consistency in our game," Head Coach Mike Kunigonis said.
 
Starting pitcher Joe Hawks took the loss to move to 3-3 on the season going five innings, giving up four runs on six hits and three walks with six strikeouts. William Anderson went three innings in relief allowing two runs on two hits and two walks.
 
NIU's runs came in the fifth inning when Tommy Hook and Brad Wood each drew two-out walks before Roderick Bynum stepped up and launched a double off the left field wall to score Hook and Wood to tie the game. Samuel Vega stepped to the plate next to crack a single into center scoring Bynum to give the Huskies the lead at 3-2, that hit also extends Vega's hitting streak to 17 games.
 
Jacob Dunham added three hits for the third time in his freshman season to lead the Huskies in three-hit games. Alec Barger and Hook led off the 9^th with singles to round out the seven hits for NIU on the day but couldn't come around to score.
 
The top of the order for Buffalo set the table well as their leadoff hitter Alex Thrower scored three runs and Brian Dudek scored twice from the two-spot. The clean-up man did his job for the Bulls as well as Vinny Mallaro drove in four of their six runs.
 
"We need to have a short memory and find a way to get back in the series tomorrow morning with game one of the doubleheader," Kunigonis said.
 
These two teams will be back in action tomorrow morning for a doubleheader starting at 10:00 a.m. CT in Rochester. HuskieBall fans can follow the team on Twitter @NIU_Baseball and on Instagram @niu_baseball.