After one weekend of conference play, three America East baseball teams sit at 4-0 and one of those teams is the Binghamton Bearcats.

BU opened up conference play last weekend, sweeping rival Albany with a 10-6 win on Friday, then taking both games of a doubleheader Saturday 6-0 and 12-5 before wrapping up the series Sunday with a 4-1 win.

Senior Zach Groh struck out nine over six innings in Friday’s game and left the game with a 6-3 lead. The Great Danes rallied for three runs off reliever Murphy Smith to tie the game before the Bearcats struck back in the ninth.

Freshman left-fielder Joe Charron, AE Rookie of the Week for two weeks straight, delivered a two-run single to break open the game.

Junior righty Khalid Afify pitched the final two innings of the game for his second win of the year. Senior shortstop Justin Smucker and junior third baseman Ryan James each had three hits.

Scott Diamond took the hill in the first game Saturday and looked impressive. The junior southpaw struck out two, and allowed three hits and four walks over five scoreless innings.

‘It was extremely important,’ Diamond said. ‘Zach went out and pitched a good game the day before and we wanted to put the series away Saturday. We wanted to bury them there.’

James continued his torrid hitting, going 3-for-4 with two RBI. Sophomore reliever Greg Lane pitched the final two innings of the game and did not allow a hit.

Charron came up big again in the nightcap, hitting a pair of home runs, scoring four runs and driving in three. The Bearcats took the lead in the third on a three-run RBI double from freshman outfielder Henry Dunn. Clinging to a 6-5 lead in the fifth, BU exploded for six runs highlighted by a two-run home run to left by Charron. He added a solo shot in the seventh for his team-best fourth of the season.

Junior reliever Gio Yannuzzi came on to pitch in the second inning in relief of Jeff Dennis and pitched the rest of the game. He allowed two hits and one run over 5.1 innings for his first win of the year.

Conference-earned run-average leader Mike Van Gorder scattered six hits and one run over six innings to get the win on Sunday. The outing lowered his ERA to 1.71. Smith and Afify pitched the final three innings in scoreless relief as Afify earned his third save of the year.

Brendon Hitchcock went 3-for-4 to raise his conference-best batting average to .446. Senior second baseman Matt Simek went 3-for-4 with two runs and an RBI.

The series was the first conference matchup after a string of non-conference games at Long Island University, Brigham Young and Utah Valley State. The Bearcats went 4-4 in non-conference games over the break against some stiff competition.

‘Mentally those games helped us work together to give us the focus and determination to make it into conference play,’ Diamond said.

The Bearcats dropped a non-conference game to Cornell 3-0 on Tuesday. Freshman Matt Simone pitched solidly in his first collegiate start, allowing three runs in four innings. Junior Mario Roefaro and Charron combined for four scoreless innings of relief. Senior Mike Papili had both of Binghamton’s hits.