The Buffalo Bulls baseball team was a varsity intercollegiate athletic team of the

University at Buffalo The State University of New York at Buffalo, commonly called the University at Buffalo (UB) and sometimes called SUNY Buffalo, is a public research university with campuses in Buffalo and Amherst, New York. The university was founded in 1846 ...

Amherst, New York Amherst () is a town in Erie County, New York, United States. Amherst is an inner ring suburb of Buffalo. As of 2020, the town had a total population of 129,595. This represents an increase from 122,366 as reported in the 2010 census. The second ...

, United States. From 2001 to 2017, the team was a member of the

Mid-American Conference The Mid-American Conference (MAC) is a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I collegiate athletic conference with a membership base in the Great Lakes region that stretches from Western New York to Illinois. Nine of the twel ...

East division, which is part of the

National Collegiate Athletic Association The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges an ...

(NCAA) at the Division I level. The Bulls played their home games at

Amherst Audubon Field Amherst Audubon Field is a baseball field located on the campus of the University at Buffalo in Amherst, New York, United States. The field was built as the home of the Buffalo Bulls baseball team, which competed in the National Collegiate Athle ...

on the UB campus. The Bulls were coached by

Ron Torgalski Ronald J. Torgalski is an American former college baseball and college basketball coach. He was most recently the head baseball coach for the University at Buffalo. During his nine seasons as coach of the Bulls, he has compiled an overall record of ...

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.

History

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 An army (from Old French ''armee'', itself derived from the Latin verb ''armāre'', meaning "to arm", and related to the Latin noun ''arma'', meaning "arms" or "weapons"), ground force or land force is a fighting force that fights primarily on ...

Michigan State Michigan State University (Michigan State, MSU) is a public land-grant research university in East Lansing, Michigan. It was founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State of Michigan, the first of its kind in the United States. It i ...

and Syracuse.

Year-by-year results

Bulls in Major League Baseball

The first Buffalo alumnus to appear in Major League Baseball was

Bill Schuster William Charles Schuster (August 4, 1912 – June 28, 1987) was a professional baseball player who played shortstop in the Major Leagues from 1937 to 1945. He would play for the Pittsburgh Pirates, Boston Bees, and Chicago Cubs. Schuester at ...

, who debuted with the

Pittsburgh Pirates The Pittsburgh Pirates are an American professional baseball team based in Pittsburgh. The Pirates compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) Central division. Founded as part of the American Associati ...

in 1937. The most notable Bull from the pre-draft era was

Eddie Basinski Edwin Frank Basinski (November 4, 1922 – January 8, 2022) was an American professional baseball infielder. He played in Major League Baseball for the Brooklyn Dodgers and Pittsburgh Pirates. Early life Basinski was born in Buffalo, New Yor ...

, who picked up 147 hits in 203 games with the Pirates and

Brooklyn Dodgers The Brooklyn Dodgers were a Major League Baseball team founded in 1884 as a member of the American Association (19th century), American Association before joining the National League in 1890. They remained in Brooklyn until 1957, after which the ...

between 1944 and 1947. Since the

Major League Baseball Draft The first-year player draft is the primary mechanism of Major League Baseball (MLB) for assigning amateur baseball players from high schools, colleges, and other amateur baseball clubs to its teams. The draft order is determined based on a lo ...

began in 1965, Buffalo has had 33 players selected. Joe Hesketh, a 1980 draftee of the

Montreal Expos The Montreal Expos (french: link=no, Les Expos de Montréal) were a Canadian professional baseball team based in Montreal, Quebec. The Expos were the first Major League Baseball (MLB) franchise located outside the United States. They played in t ...

, accumulated a 9.0

WAR War is an intense armed conflict between states, governments, societies, or paramilitary groups such as mercenaries, insurgents, and militias. It is generally characterized by extreme violence, destruction, and mortality, using regular o ...

over eleven seasons as a left-handed

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("pitches") the baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or draw ...

from 1984 to 1994. Pitcher

Steve Geltz Steven Geltz (born November 1, 1987) is an American former professional baseball pitcher. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim and the Tampa Bay Rays. Amateur career Geltz was born in Newfane, New York to ...

played for the Bulls and was undrafted in 2008. He made his Major League debut in 2012 for the

Los Angeles Angels The Los Angeles Angels are an American professional baseball team based in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. The Angels compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division. Since 1966, the team ha ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Buffalo Bulls Baseball Baseball teams established in 1916 Baseball teams disestablished in 2017 1916 establishments in New York (state) 2017 disestablishments in New York (state)