After suffering a road sweep in an America East (AE) play against Bryant, the Binghamton baseball team was defeated 9-7 by Cornell Tuesday night. The Bearcats held a 7-2 lead thanks to a seven-run sixth inning, but the Big Red brought the game within two after plating three in the seventh. Then, a three-run home run with two outs in the ninth gave Cornell the road win.
“We didn’t defend very well,” said Binghamton head coach Tim Sinicki. “We gave up seven runs in the last three innings courtesy of pitching and defense, and we only had six hits off of their bottom pitchers. While seven runs look nice on the board, they all came in one inning and it was courtesy of a lot of freebies. We didn’t do a whole lot to earn those runs. That’s not a good enough effort or a good enough performance by us.”
After being down 2-0 most of the game to Cornell (11-13, 8-4 Ivy League), the Bearcats (13-19, 3-9 AE) opened up their scoring in the bottom of the sixth by loading the bases before senior shortstop Isaiah Corry walked to bring in a run. Senior outfielder Eric Madenberg followed with a two-run single up the middle before junior second baseman Nick Roselli drove in another two runs on a ground rule double. Closing out the dominant sixth inning was another RBI double, this time off the bat of junior designated hitter Evin Sullivan to give Binghamton a 7-2 lead.
“[Seven runs in the sixth] should’ve been enough,” Sinicki said. “We took advantage of a guy that walked the bases loaded and walked a run in. It should have been enough. To go up 7-2 at that point with nine outs to go, it should have been enough to win.”
Cornell got back in the game with a three-run top of the seventh, starting with a single followed by an RBI off an error at second. The Big Red then drove in the runner who reached on an error, cutting Binghamton’s lead to 7-5. After a clean eighth inning from the Bearcats, Cornell responded with a solo home run to bring the score to 7-6. Not long after, the Big Red put two runners on while down to their last out before a three-run home run gave them a 9-7 lead. Binghamton had an opportunity in the ninth with two runners on, but a double play ended the game as Cornell came out on top 9-7.
“You gotta be better,” Sinicki said. “You come in there and you’re three outs away, you’ve got to be able to close it out. [After] the solo home run you still have the lead, but then you walk two guys and that creates the inning. You’re basically setting it up for them and anything can happen. They also hit two balls to the wall that I thought had a chance to get out. We gave up the three-run home run, and that just can’t happen.”
Senior outfielder Tommy Reifler and Roselli led the Bearcats with two hits each, while Roselli, Sullivan and Madenberg all collected two RBIs. The Bearcats collected 12 walks against Big Red pitching, while Bearcat pitching surrendered eight. On the mound, graduate student pitcher Spencer Howell and junior pitcher Chris Sleeper both gave the Bearcats scoreless relief outings, with Sleeper striking out three over his two scoreless innings. Freshman pitcher Conner Griffin also gave the Bearcats two innings of work, allowing one earned run on two hits.
“I thought [Sleeper] was excellent tonight and I thought [Howell] did a really good job too,” Sinicki said. “Then you throw in [Griffin] as a freshman, [and] unfortunately he didn’t benefit from [what] I thought [were] a couple tough calls against him, but then we mugged the ball as well in that inning. But I thought those three pitched really well. The guy that stood out to me the most tonight was the job that [junior catcher Zach Rogacki] did behind the plate. There were some difficult pitches that he blocked, not a pitch got past him tonight … I thought he was excellent behind the plate tonight for us.”
BU will continue conference play as they host UAlbany for a three-game set starting on Friday, April 19. First pitch is set for 6 p.m. at the Bearcats Baseball Complex in Vestal, New York.