Zach Groh did his part, but sometimes all it takes is a couple of bad innings to ruin a weekend.

Such was the case for the Binghamton baseball team this weekend, which lost two out of three games to Central Connecticut State. The Bearcats split a doubleheader Saturday, dropping the first game 12-8 before Groh led them to a 10-1 victory in the nightcap. The next day Central Connecticut scored five runs in the second inning and never looked back, downing BU 11-2.

“It wasn’t a great weekend,” said head coach Tim Sinicki. “We really only had one bad inning the first day and I thought we outplayed them for 12 innings, but unfortunately we only got the split.”

The Blue Devils jumped on BU ace Scott Diamond early in game one, exploding for 11 runs in the fourth inning. The Bearcats would add two runs in the fifth and four in the sixth but could not even the score.

“We swung the bats pretty well, but it’s hard to claw back when you’re in such a huge hole,” Sinicki said.

Junior right fielder Jeff Monaco continued his hot hitting, going 3-4, including a two-run home run and four RBI. Monaco leads the team with a .417 batting average.

Groh was lights out in the second game, holding the Blue Devils to two hits over six innings. He struck out seven, and allowed only one hit to leave the infield the entire game. Groh’s performance earned him America East Pitcher of the Week honors for the second consecutive time.

“Zach Groh has been so dominant this spring,” Sinicki said. “He’s continued to recover and it’s great to have him back out there.”

Groh was backed up by his lineup, which provided 10 runs. Junior second baseman Matt Simek had three hits and drove in four runners, while junior shortstop Justin Smucker went 2-4 with two RBI.

The Bearcats’ hopes of winning the series were all but destroyed after the second inning on Sunday. The Blue Devils exploded for five runs in the inning, chasing BU starter Mike Van Gorder from the game. Van Gorder suffered his first setback of the spring, as he entered with a 1.06 ERA. The Blue Devils added three more runs in the fourth inning to secure the win in the rubber match.

“When pitchers slump it’s a lot more obvious than when a hitter does,” Sinicki said regarding his starters’ performances this weekend. “From a pitching standpoint, if you have one bad start it gets magnified. [Diamond and Van Gorder] were coming off excellent outings last weekend, so I’m sure they’ll bounce back.”

Senior reliever Adam Shatkun bounced back from a disappointing performance against Niagara by throwing two dominating innings Sunday. Shatkun didn’t allow a hit and no ball even left the infield.

Simek, freshman left fielder Ken Jacobi and senior center fielder Aaron Davis had two hits apiece, while freshman third baseman Kyle Klee ripped a RBI triple in the eighth inning, but the Bearcats could never overcome the early deficit.

Binghamton will return home tomorrow for its last non-conference tune-up of the season against Cornell at 2 p.m. at Varsity Field.

“We just try to get better every time we take the field,” Sinicki said. “We try to fix the mistakes and just keep doing what we’re doing right, so that we’re as ready as we can be moving into conference play next week.”