Catching up with the rest of UB Athletics as spring sports hit the meat of the season

Not too long ago, within the last 20 minutes as I write this, perhaps the last few hours or so as you read this, the Northern Hemisphere flipped the theoretical switch into Spring.

Now, I'm not sure what it's like weather-wise in Buffalo, but here in DC we're expecting a bit of snow this weekend and everyone is up in arms about it. Still, it's spring, and just a few hours before the moment of equinox UB's last winter sports team still alive wrapped up their season with a loss to West Virginia.

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Over the last two weeks, it's been much tougher to stay on top of all UB sports as we try, and other than a brief interlude into Track and Field Indoor Nationals, I've pretty much failed entirely.

But before Softball wraps up their California spring break tonight, I can hopefully catch you up, and from now on will be back to my normal Olympic Sports rhythm.

Softball

Softball has been all over SoCal, and with two former residents of the area on the Bull Run editorial staff, we're jealous. Though Conrad lives in Hawai'i now, so maybe he isn't. I miss LA though and wish it weren't so far from home.

Anyway, the Bulls played a few games in Northridge against Bryant, Cal State-Northridge, Colorado State, and Iona, a few in Fullerton against Cal State-Fullerton, a few against Harvard and Loyola Marymount in my old West Side neck of the woods, and then one in San Diego yesterday.

Tonight they've headed back up 'north' to San Luis Obispo for a pair of games against Cal Poly, but I'll have a write up on those two tomorrow. For now, UB's 3-7 on the California trip, which is still not great, but things are looking up.

For one, the errors are coming down. It's nothing more than speculation, but I've been wondering this spring if the defensive struggles were a result of the weather in Buffalo and a shortage of outdoor practice time. After four- and five-error games have become commonplace, the Bulls are averaging just 1.5 a game on this trip, and have six games with a single or no errors.

As a partial result of this, less burden is being placed on the offense. Buffalo opponents are scoring 6 runs per game on this stretch, which, again, still not great, but better.

And the offense is getting better, too. I won't throw more numbers at you, but it's been more than just Alexis Curtiss and we're getting there. Probably not run-to-the-MAC-final there, but this young team is improving.

Women's Tennis

Somehow I've gotten a bit lucky as I've focused on basketball. Men's Tennis had last weekend off.

But Women's Tennis has been at it. Unfortunately, since we last checked in, the ladies have dropped three straight, including their MAC opener this afternoon against Toledo.

The silver lining is that the pair of losses last weekend were 4-3 margins, which usually come down to a single doubles set or tiebreaker. Today's loss to the Rockets was by a 5-2 score, which is a bit tougher.

Against the College of Charleston, Margarita Kotok and Tanja Stojanovska led the way to two singles points and as part of Buffalo's two successful doubles wins, but UB struggled at the bottom of the lineup. Against Rutgers, Stojanovska was again a winner, but the other Bulls points came from Laura Holterbosch and Christine Haraldson at #5 and #6 singles.

Today it was again Holterbosch and Stojanovska who claimed points for Buffalo.

UB has a string of three straight home MAC matches starting Sunday, when they take on Eastern Michigan at 1:00 PM.

Men's Tennis

Like I said, Men's Tennis hasn't competed in a while, but they will also be in action Sunday, taking on Cornell in Ithaca at 1:00 PM.

Baseball

Last we talked baseball - I think - the Bulls had split a four-game set full of close games with Dayton. Last week, things went a little rougher for UB, who dropped a 13-6 game at Canisius before three losses to nationally-ranked Houston.

On the season, Nick Sinay already has eight stolen bases, while Bobby Sheppard and Chris Kwitzer lead the team in batting average. The Bulls are opening MAC play with a pair of "home" games in Indiana this weekend against Northern Illinois.

Track and Field

Mercifully, still an off period for Track and Field before a meet in Cincinnati next Saturday.

Rowing

Rowing's at Clemson on Sunday. That's all I know. When I know more I will tell you.

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That wraps it up for the spring sports. If you're sharp, you also know that Men's Soccer spent their spring break doing things in England. That's coming in a separate post.

Once again, apologies for not staying timely with the rest of UB Athletics. I take a ton of pride in Bull Run being the only place outside of UB itself that covers every team, every competition, and unfortunately I just got strung a little too thin the last week. We'll be back to normal now.

Go Bulls