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Cory Sullivan had four of the Bisons 15 hits as they cruised to a 13-5 win over Durham in Bill Masse’s debut as the Bisons new hitting coach.

One day after former hitting coach Luis Natera was demoted to Double-A Binghamton and Masse was promoted from the B-Mets, the Herd (18-39) responded with a season-high 13-runs.

But more than the runs posted on the scoreboard was the fact that they were able to hit with men in scoring position, the bane of the Bisons existence so far, as they score two runs with two outs to take a 4-3 lead in the fourth inning.

“That’s stuff that we hadn’t been doing,” said manager Ken Oberkfell. “That was nice to see. We got big hits with men on base and we took advantage of their mistakes.”

After failing to push a run across after loading the bags in the first inning the Bisons dugout had the “here we go again” feel.

“I just try to be positive,” said Masse. “For example in the first inning I heard everyone say here we go again because we had bases loaded, a strike out and a long fly ball. My philosophy on that is and I was saying over and over in the dugout ‘keep putting guys on base. If you keep putting them on eventually the dam is going to break.’”

The dam did in fact break especially in the fifth inning as the Herd sent 11 batters to the plate and rang up six runs to take a 10-4 lead.

Something odd also occurred, as the game went on and the Bisons continued to get quality at-bats and run up the score the Herd showed intensity, energy and a belief that they could win. And for the first time in a long time players actually showed passion for the game as they watched and cheered from the top row of the dugout stairs.

“I’m very aggressive I’m very positive. Nothings more fun in the world than hitting a ball as hard as you can. You guys know,” Masse said as he joked with reporters after the game. “How sweet is it in your backyard and you just smoke one.”

The Herd also took advantage of Durham mistakes as the Bulls (37-23) made five errors, three alone by shortstop Ray Olmedo who committed three gaffs, two on one play, in a ghastly eighth inning.

As if the Bisons performance wasn’t damaging enough to Natera’s reputation earlier in the day Binghamton dropped a 16-2 decision to Harrisburg, the worst team in the Eastern League, during a Kids Day game that saw school kids boo the B-Mets at the end of the game.

Still for the lack of production under Natera’s watch the Bisons chalked the events up to odd timing and that Natera unfortunately took the fall for their lack of production.

“I think at this level guys need to hold themselves a little more accountable not necessarily a coaching staff holding us accountable,” said Cory Sullivan. “I think everybody has to realize where they’re (shortcomings) are. I think Billy is great he brings a lot of knowledge to the table but like I said I think the guys are more aware of what they need to do.”

Tim McNabb (2-0) picked up the win while James Houser (3-2) was hung for the loss as he gave up five runs on nine hits in 4.1 innings of work.

With their pitchers giving up nine earned runs as a group the Bulls were forced to dip into their stock of positional players as catcher Alex Jamieson came on to record the last two outs of the eighth.

Notes: Wily Mo Pena (2 for 3, three RBI) was back in the lineup after exiting in the fourth Monday with back spasms. Luis Rivera was 3 for 5 with two runs and two RBI.