TO SUM IT UP: The Bisons provided more than enough run support for a Herd staff that combined on a five hit, 4-0, shutout win over Louisville Friday night.  Chris Schwinden (2-1) stuckout five and tossed six innings of four-hit ball while earning the win. Justin Hampson and Manny Acosta held the Bats to just one hit over the final three innings.  Ruben Tejada and Kirk Nieuwenhuis collected five of Buffalo’s seven hits while driving in three of the four runs in the victory.

FAST FACTS: Ruben Tejada took his average to .301 with a 3-4 performance, including a solo-HR(3), the RBI adds to a Bisons-best 18RBI… Kirk Nieuwenhuis went 2-4 with 2RBI with a solo HR(5), the five homers and 11 doubles lead the Herd… Nieuwenhuis has been on base 28 of Buffalo’s 29 games, with hits in 24 games… Chris Schwinden (2-1) earned his first win at Coca-Cola Field, lowering his ERA to 2.00, while completing 6IP for the first time… The win is Buffalo’s third shutout of the season, two of which Schwinden has been the starter (Jenrry Mejia the other)… Nick Evans, 1-4, is 8 for his last 19AB and has reached base 14 times in the last six games…  Bisons pitching combined to strikeout a dozen Bats – without issuing a walk… The Bisons have 22 homeruns this season, 17 are solo shots… By taking the first two games of the series, it’s the first time the Bisons have won the first two games of any set this season… Before the game the Bisons announced John Lujan and Brian Sweeney will going the Herd.

Buffalo	AB	R	H	RBI	BB	SO	LOB	AVG
Tejada, SS	4	2	3	1	0	1	0	.301
Hernandez, Lu, 2B	4	0	1	0	0	0	2	.171
Nieuwenhuis, CF	4	1	2	2	0	1	1	.317
Duda, 1B	3	1	0	0	1	0	1	.247
Evans, N, 3B	4	0	1	0	0	0	1	.235
Martinez, F, RF	3	0	0	0	0	0	2	.269
Hampson, P	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
a-Manriquez, S, PH	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	.333
Acosta, P	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
Feliciano, J, LF	2	0	0	1	0	0	0	.256
Nickeas, C	2	0	0	0	1	0	1	.100
Schwinden, P	2	0	0	0	0	1	1	.200
Malo, RF	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	.143
Totals	30	4	7	4	2	3	9

Buffalo	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR	ERA
Schwinden (W, 2-1)	6.0	4	0	0	0	5	0	2.00
Hampson	2.0	0	0	0	0	4	0	1.38
Acosta	1.0	1	0	0	0	3	0	2.53

The Bisons pulled a one-two-punch that Louisville couldn’t handle Friday night at Coca-cola field. The Bisons had seven hits, five of them from Ruben Tejada and Kirk Nieuwenhuis accounting for three of the four runs scored by the Herd.

Tejada was a big part of the Bisons offense, scoring their first run of the game on a double by Nieuwenhuis in the first inning and knocking in a homerun to lead off the third. Tejada finished the night 3-for-4 with two runs scored and one RBI.

Tejada said that he felt comfortable at the plate allowing him to focus on the pitches he was looking for each time.

Nieuwenhuis got his second RBI of the game in the sixth inning, hitting a homerun into the Bully Hill Party Deck. Lucas Duda followed with a walk, and moved to second base on a Nick Evans single to left-field. Duda scored on a sacrifice fly by Jesus Feliciano making it 4-0.

Bisons starter Chris Schwinden pitched six innings giving up four hits and striking out five and getting his first win of the season at Coca-Cola Field. Things got rocky in the fifth but Schwinden and the Bisons escaped the inning without giving up a run.

“Backing up your team and staying positive and getting out of it is the big thing,” Schwinden said.

Schwinden started the fifth by giving up a single to Todd Frazier. After striking out Danny Dorn, Michael Griffin singled to left-field, and with one out Louisville starter Chad Reineke moved Frazier to third and Griffin to second with a sacrifice. Schwinden ended the inning by striking out the next batter.

“Here’s a guy, came up here, we didn’t know what we were going to get and he’s delivered,” said Manager Tim Teufel.

Justin Hampson entered in relief for Schwinden striking out the first four batters he faced. Hampson pitched two scoreless innings keeping the shutout intact.

Manny Acosta pitched a scoreless ninth for his second save of the season, striking out the first two batters. After giving up a double to Jeremy Hermida, Acosta struck out the final batter of the night to preserve the shutout.

Teufel called it a beautiful performance by the pitching staff which combined for 12 strikeouts and no walks.

“You’d like to have that every night, we had a sacrifice fly, two homeruns and an RBI double so that’s pretty efficient with our bats as well tonight, well-played game by us,” said Teufel.

Friday, May 6, 2011 (7:05 p.m.) – Coca-Cola Field
Radio: WWKB AM 1520, WGR Sportsradio 550 AM, bisons.com

Buffalo Bisons (12-16, 5th(-5.0), North)
RHP Chris Schwinden (1-1, 2.57)

Louisville Bats (16-11, 2nd(-5.0), West)
RHP Chad Reineke (3-0, 2.10)

Buccaneers WR and Riverside, NY native MIKE WILLIAMS will throw out a ceremonial first pitch tonight at about 6:45pm.

TODAY’S GAME: Tonight, the Buffalo Bisons host the Louisville Bats for the second game of a four-game series at Coca-Cola Field (7:05 p.m.). The Herd collected the 6-5 walk-off win over the Bats in the series opener on Thursday night. Tonight’s game is the second of an eight-game homestand as the Bisons will welcome in the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees, May 9-12.

VS. BATS: Last night, the Bisons won the first contest in their eight-game season series with the Bats. Buffalo has now won five of their last six games against Louisville at Coca-Cola Field. Since 1998, the Herd has a 33-20 (.623 winning pct.) against the Bats in downtown Buffalo.

CLUTCH HITTER: INF RUBEN TEJADA leads the Bisons with 17RBI. The shortstop has already surpassed the total (16) runs he drove in for the Herd in 65 games in 2010. Tejada is hitting .370 (10-27) with three doubles and a triple with runners in scoring position. That average even goes up to .375 (6-16) when there are runners in scoring position and two outs.

HEATING UP: With two more hits last night, OF JESUS FELICIANO has his average up to .270. Since the Bisons’ 2009 MVP returned from a stint at Double-A Binghamton on April 26, he has hit .321 (9-28) with two doubles and two RBI. Feliciano has the second-highest career batting average in the Bisons modern era with a .320 (278-868) mark in 233 games with the club.

SCHWING AND MISS: RHP CHRIS SCHWINDEN will look for his first win at Coca-Cola Field tonight. The 24-year old righty is 1-1 with a 2.57ERA in his first Triple-A starts. After beginning the year at Double-A Binghamton, Schwinden was promoted to Buffalo on April 16. In his only other start at Coca-Cola Field, he allowed just one run in five innings of a no-decision in the second game of a doubleheader on April 21 against Rochester (4H, 2BB, 3K).

CASEY ON THE MOUND: LHP CASEY FOSSUM has not allowed an earned run in his last 14.0 innings of work. The southpaw allowed an unearned tally in 6.1 innings of a start on April 21. Since then, Fossum has delivered 7.2 scoreless frames in his first three outings out of the Bisons bullpen.

METS UPDATE: The Mets (13-18) collected a 5-2 victory over the Giants yesterday afternoon. OF CARLOS BELTRAN belted his fifth home run of the season and INF JOSE REYES plated two more with his third triple. New York will now entertain the Dodgers as L.A. comes to Citi Field for a three-game series that starts tonight (7:10pm).

The Buffalo Bisons today announced that RHP JOHN LUJAN has been promoted to the team from Double-A Binghamton. Also, the New York Mets announced that they have signed RHP BRIAN SWEENEYto a minor league contract and assigned him to the Bisons roster.

Lujan, 26, began the season with Binghamton and was 0-1 with a 3.60ERA and four saves in eight appearances (10.0IP, 10H, 4BB, 11K). The righty has converted four of five save opportunities. With the B-Mets, Lujan held left-handed hitters to a .133 average (2-15).

 Lujan split the 2010 season between the Bisons and Binghamton. In 31 games with the Herd, he was 2-3 with a 5.79ERA and four saves (37.1IP, 45K).

Sweeney, 37, went to camp with the Arizona Diamondbacks but started the 2011 season with the Somerset Patriots of the independent Atlantic League. He was the Patriots’ Opening Day Starter and struck out eight in seven innings to collect a win in his only appearance with the team.

 Sweeney split last season between Triple-A Tacoma and the Seattle Mariners. With the big club, he was 1-2 with a 3.16ERA in 24 games (37.0IP, 14K). In his career, Sweeney is 4-2 with a 3.38ERA in 73 major league games with the Mariners and the San Diego Padres.

Both the Louisville Bats and Buffalo Bisons put together comeback rallies in the ninth inning on Thursday night. Lucky for the Herd it was the home team and batted last.

Jesus Feliciano singled home a pair with two outs in the bottom of the ninth to send the Bisons to a 6-5 victory at Coca-Cola Field. The rally came after Louisville had taken a 5-4 lead with two runs of their own in the top half of the inning.

Buffalo had a little bit of luck and a lot of clutch hitting to earn a victory in the first game of an eight-game homestand. After yielding a 4-3 advantage in the top half of the ninth, the Bisons got a one-out walk from Luis Hernandez to start the comeback. After Kirk Nieuwenhuis struck out, Salomon Manriquez pinch-hit and cued a grounder softly to second base on the first pitch he saw from Bats’ closer Jerry Gil.

What surely would’ve been the third and final out turned into a base hit as Bisons skipper sent Hernandez on the pitch. That forced Louisville second baseman Michael Griffin to leave his position and cover the bag. Hernandez went first to third on a ball that never left the infield.

Gil then wanted no part of Fernando Martinez, walking the right field on four pitches to load the bases. Feliciano lined a base hit to the opposite field to score both Hernandez and Manriquez for the game-winning runs.

Louisville had a 3-0 lead through three innings, but the Bisons scored three runs on the fourth with hits from Mike Nickeas, Valentino Pascucci and Ruben Tejada. Casey Fossum scored all the way from first base on a Tejada double in the sixth inning to give Buffalo the 4-3 edge.

Todd Frazier’s RBI-double of Dale Thayer in the ninth tied the game at four before former Bison Brian Barton gave Louisville the temporary 5-4 lead with a sacrifice fly.