Buffalo Bulls baseball

Buffalo Bulls
Founded1894 (1894)
Defunct2017; 7 years ago (2017)
UniversityUniversity at Buffalo
ConferenceMid–American
East Division
LocationAmherst, New York
Home stadiumAmherst Audubon Field (2001–2017)
Dunn Tire Park (2000)
NicknameBulls
ColorsRoyal blue and white[1]
   
NCAA Tournament appearances
1971, 1973
Regular season conference champions
1980[2]

The Buffalo Bulls baseball team was a varsity intercollegiate athletic team of the University at Buffalo in Amherst, New York, United States.[3] From 2001 to 2017, the team was a member of the Mid-American Conference East division, which is part of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at the Division I level. The Bulls played their home games at Amherst Audubon Field on the UB campus.[4] The Bulls were coached by Ron Torgalski for the program's final 11 seasons, from 2007 through 2017. At the conclusion of the 2017 season, the program was eliminated by the university.[5][6][7][8]

History

[edit]

The year 1949 is considered the official inaugural season of UB varsity baseball. But baseball’s start at UB goes back much further. There are newspaper accounts of a UB team from as early as 1894. From 1914–1917, several good UB teams took to the diamond playing some of the best teams in the country including Pitt, Army, Michigan State and Syracuse.[9][10][11][12] The Bulls qualified for the NCAA Division I baseball tournament in 1971 and 1973.

Year-by-year results

[edit]
Statistics overview
Season Coach Overall Conference Standing Postseason
Records unavailable (1914–1917)
No program (1917–1948)
Records unavailable (1949–1987)
No program (1988–1999)
Independent (2000)
2000 Bill Breene 12–35
Mid-American Conference (2001–2017)
2001[13] Bill Breene 11–39 5–23 7th (East)
2002[14] Bill Breene 16–28 6–17 6th (East)
2003[15] Bill Breene 16–37 5–21 6th (East)
2004[16] Bill Breene 15–39 4–18 6th (East)
2005[17] Bill Breene 19–30–1 5–14–1 6th (East)
2006[18] Bill Breene 15–37 6–21 6th (East)
2007[19] Ron Torgalski 16–35 11–16 3rd (East)
2008[20] Ron Torgalski 14–38 7–19 6th (East)
2009[21] Ron Torgalski 20–35 6–20 6th (East)
2010[22] Ron Torgalski 23–29 9–18 5th (East)
2011[23] Ron Torgalski 14–38 3–22 6th (East)
2012[24] Ron Torgalski 20–36 10–16 4th (East)
2013[25] Ron Torgalski 33–24 19–7 2nd (East)
2014[26] Ron Torgalski 26–26 13–13 4th (East)
2015[27] Ron Torgalski 16–35 7–20 6th (East)
2016 Ron Torgalski 13–28 6–15 6th (East)
2017 Ron Torgalski 17–34 8–16 5th (East)
MAC: 304–568–1 130–296–1
Total:

      National champion         Postseason invitational champion  
      Conference regular season champion         Conference regular season and conference tournament champion
      Division regular season champion       Division regular season and conference tournament champion
      Conference tournament champion

Bulls in Major League Baseball

[edit]

The first Buffalo alumnus to appear in Major League Baseball was Bill Schuster, who debuted with the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1937. The most notable Bull from the pre-draft era was Eddie Basinski, who picked up 147 hits in 203 games with the Pirates and Brooklyn Dodgers between 1944 and 1947.[28]

Since the Major League Baseball Draft began in 1965, Buffalo has had 33 players selected.[29]

Joe Hesketh, a 1980 draftee of the Montreal Expos, accumulated a 9.0 WAR over eleven seasons as a left-handed pitcher from 1984 to 1994.[30] Pitcher Steve Geltz played for the Bulls and was undrafted in 2008. He made his Major League debut in 2012 for the Los Angeles Angels.

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "University at Buffalo Color Palette". Retrieved June 28, 2016.
  2. ^ "1980 Final Baseball Standings" (PDF). SUNYAC. Retrieved 8 October 2021.
  3. ^ "Buffalo Bulls". d1baseball.com. Archived from the original on 2012-09-12. Retrieved 2012-11-02.
  4. ^ "BASEBALL FIELD: AMHERST AUDUBON FIELD". BuffaloBulls.com. Archived from the original on 2012-05-15. Retrieved 2012-11-02.
  5. ^ "University at Buffalo to cut four teams in move projected to save $2 million". Record-Courier. Associated Press. April 3, 2017. Retrieved April 3, 2017.
  6. ^ Gaughan, Mark (April 3, 2017). "UB will drop four sports teams in athletics budget cutback". The Buffalo News. Archived from the original on May 5, 2017. Retrieved May 5, 2017.
  7. ^ Gaughan, Mark (April 3, 2017). "UB community feels pain as athletic department cuts four teams". The Buffalo News. Archived from the original on May 5, 2017. Retrieved May 5, 2017.
  8. ^ Gleason, Bucky (June 8, 2017). "How UB's decision to cut baseball affected the final season – and everyone involved". The Buffalo News. Archived from the original on June 9, 2017. Retrieved June 8, 2017.
  9. ^ "1914 Buffalo Baseball Archived 2016-08-03 at the Wayback Machine," University at Buffalo Digital Collections – March 19, 2014.
  10. ^ "1915 Buffalo Baseball Archived 2016-12-20 at the Wayback Machine," University at Buffalo Digital Collections – February 5, 2015.
  11. ^ "1916 Buffalo Baseball Archived 2016-08-03 at the Wayback Machine," University at Buffalo Digital Collections – July 11, 2013.
  12. ^ "1917 Buffalo Baseball Archived 2016-07-01 at the Wayback Machine," University at Buffalo Digital Collections – April 30, 2014.
  13. ^ "Buffalo Bulls Season Statistics – Buffalo". Ubbulls.com. Retrieved 2016-03-29.
  14. ^ "Buffalo Season Statistics – Buffalo". Ubbulls.com. Retrieved 2016-03-29.
  15. ^ "Buffalo – Season Statistics – Buffalo". Ubbulls.com. 2003-05-27. Retrieved 2016-03-29.
  16. ^ "Buffalo – Season Statistics – Buffalo". Ubbulls.com. 2004-05-23. Retrieved 2016-03-29.
  17. ^ "Univ. at Buffalo – Season Statistics – Buffalo". Ubbulls.com. 2005-05-22. Retrieved 2016-03-29.
  18. ^ "Buffalo – Season Statistics – Buffalo". Ubbulls.com. 2006-05-20. Retrieved 2016-03-29.
  19. ^ "Buffalo – Season Statistics – Buffalo". Ubbulls.com. 2007-05-19. Retrieved 2016-03-29.
  20. ^ "BUFFALO – Season Statistics – Buffalo". Ubbulls.com. 2008-05-17. Retrieved 2016-03-29.
  21. ^ "Buffalo – Season Statistics – Buffalo". Ubbulls.com. 2009-05-18. Retrieved 2016-03-29.
  22. ^ "BUFFALO – Season Statistics – Buffalo". Ubbulls.com. 2010-05-22. Retrieved 2016-03-29.
  23. ^ "Buffalo – Season Statistics – Buffalo". Ubbulls.com. Retrieved 2016-03-29.
  24. ^ "Buffalo – Season Statistics – Buffalo". Ubbulls.com. Retrieved 2016-03-29.
  25. ^ "Buffalo – Season Statistics – Buffalo". Ubbulls.com. Retrieved 2016-03-29.
  26. ^ "Buffalo – Season Statistics – Buffalo". Ubbulls.com. Retrieved 2016-03-29.
  27. ^ "Buffalo – Season Statistics – Buffalo". Ubbulls.com. Retrieved 2016-03-29.
  28. ^ "University at Buffalo, State University of New York Baseball Players". Baseball-Reference.com. Sports Reference. Retrieved 14 June 2016.
  29. ^ "MLB Amateur Draft Picks who came from "University at Buffalo, State University of New York (Buffalo, NY)"". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved 2016-06-14.
  30. ^ "Joe Hesketh Statistics and History". Baseball-Reference.com. Sports Reference. Retrieved 14 June 2016.
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