Bulls fall apart late, drop series finale

Bulls

Bulls fall apart late, drop series finale

Jun 29, 2012

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Durham, N.C. — Syracuse’s Corey Brown broke a 6-6 tie with a run scoring single in the top of the eighth, which led to the Bulls’ undoing in an 11-7 defeat on Friday night. With the win in the series finale, the Chiefs took three of four from the Bulls but Durham finished the homestand with a 5-4 mark.

Brown started the game with a bang, hitting his third home run of the series to put the Chiefs up 1-0. Durham answered right back with three straight hits off of Chiefs starter Zach Duke, pulling ahead 2-1 in the bottom of the contest’s opening frame.

In the top of the third, Tim Beckham padded the lead by smashing his first home run of the season to deep right field. The two teams exchanged runs in the fourth, but the Chiefs tied it up by scoring two in the fifth off of Bulls starter Matt Buschmann. Syracuse regained the lead on an Xavier Paul 2-run blast to dead center in the 7th, giving the Chiefs a 6-4 advantage.

Down by two in the following frame, Chris Gimenez knocked Duke out of the game by crushing a solo home run to bring the game within one. Chiefs Manager Tony Beasley brought in lefty Atahualpa Severino (3-0, 3.16) to face Stephen Vogt and Durham’s DH crushed a monster blast to the right field concourse, tying the game at six all. It was the second time this season that two Bulls have gone back-to-back. With the homer, Vogt extended his Bulls season-high on base streak to 25 games.

Frank De Los Santos (1-1, 4.15) entered the tied game and was ultimately saddled with the loss. After back-to-back Syracuse singles to start the eighth, Brown stroked an RBI single to break the tie at 7-6. The Chiefs put up four more runs in the ninth, including a 2-run double from Seth Bynum, putting the game and series out of reach. Stephen Vogt extended his Bulls season-high on base streak to 25 games in the loss.

While the USA Baseball Prospect Classic continues at the DBAP, the Bulls hit the road tomorrow to begin a four game series against the Buffalo Bisons. LHP Mark Cohoon (0-0, 17.18) will take the hill for Buffalo and face LHP Alex Torres (2-3, 7.06). Game time is set for 7:05pm.