On Wednesday, the Binghamton baseball team traveled to Cornell for its second matchup against the Big Red this season. Despite taking an early lead, the Bearcats were unable to get past the home team as they fell in extra innings 10-9.

“We didn’t play good baseball today and we didn’t execute in a lot of different areas,” said Binghamton head coach Tim Sinicki. “I don’t want to say that Cornell didn’t do enough to beat us, but we certainly did way too much to beat ourselves.”

BU (10-21, 6-9 America East [AE]) struck first in the top of the first inning as junior outfielder Cavan Tully reached home off of a double play. Binghamton added on to its total thanks to two runs in the third and fourth inning each. The Bearcats’ early offensive efforts allowed them to take a 5-1 lead over Cornell (8-18, 3-9 Ivy League) after four innings.

“We gotta be better than that, when we give guys opportunities to do things in ballgames,” Sinicki said. “Whether it’s in the batter’s box or on the bases or most importantly on the pitcher’s mound, we gotta be better than we were today and that’s why we lost the game.”

Up until this point, BU had used three pitchers in four innings to keep the Big Red at bay. In the bottom of the fifth, Binghamton brought in sophomore pitcher Alex Henderson. Henderson allowed four earned runs during his time on the mound and was unable to record a single out. Cornell added one more run in the inning after a pitching change as the Bearcats trailed for the first time 6-5.

“We had a number of guys that pitched fine,” Sinicki said. “It’s just that everybody has to be better, we all have to be better collectively as a group … This is a team sport and we lost this game together as a team.”

However, Binghamton did not trail for long as it tied the score in the top of the sixth. The next scoring play came in the eighth inning. BU added its seventh run off of a sacrifice fly and poured onto its advantage thanks to a two-run homer from junior catcher Connor Aoki. The Big Red wasted no time in the bottom of the inning, posting a three-run rally of their own, tying the game at nine.

“You have to have productive at-bats,” Sinicki said. “And when you gotta move runners, you gotta move runners. Gotta get guys in from third base with less than two outs, you gotta do that as well. When you lead off an inning, you gotta have a good at-bat and not chase pitches.”

The game headed into extra innings as both teams were held scoreless in the ninth. The Bearcats were quickly shut down in the 10th inning, stranding one runner on base. Cornell loaded the bases in the bottom of the inning and scored the winning run off of a hit-by-pitch as Binghamton fell 10-9.

“Every time you take the field, you learn about your ball club and learn about yourself individually as players,” Sinicki said. “All we can kinda do is ask our players to self-evaluate today and see what they can do to get better for the next time they get an opportunity to perform.”

The midweek matchup saw a combined 18 different pitchers step onto the mound, seven of whom were from BU and 11 from Cornell. The Big Red also recorded six errors on the day which gave Binghamton opportunities on the offensive side.

“It’s never easy when you don’t get a second look at a guy, but you just gotta get in the box and you gotta be productive with your at-bat,” Sinicki said. “That’s all we ask for. No one is gonna get a hit every time they get into the box, we certainly understand that.”

BU’s next matchup is an away series against NJIT starting on Friday, April 22. First pitch is set for 8 p.m. at the Bears and Eagles Riverfront Stadium in Newark, New Jersey.