After winning four out of its last five games, the Binghamton baseball team was looking to continue its hot streak on Saturday in a doubleheader against Albany. The Bearcats ultimately lost game one 7-3 in 12 innings and couldn’t make a comeback in the second game, losing 5-3.
“We need to score more runs,” said Binghamton head coach Tim Sinicki. “I know it sounds simple, but we had 13 hits in the first game but only scored three runs. We’ve got to manufacture some runs and get some clutch runs. We’ve got to figure out ways to get runs across home plate.”
With bases loaded and only one out, the Bearcats (5-7, 5-7 America East) had a chance to close out Albany (9-12, 7-7 AE) in the 10th inning of their first game. BU scored a run after sophomore first baseman Kevin Gsell hit a sacrifice fly to even the score at 3-3. However, the Bearcats were not able to capitalize, as the score remained tied heading into additional extra innings. Several innings later, the Great Danes scored four runs in the 12th inning and Binghamton dropped the game.
“I felt like we put ourselves in a good position to win,” Sinicki said. “We had guys on third base with less than two outs. We’ve got to do a better job hitting in those kinds of situations.”
The first runs of the game were scored by Binghamton when junior outfielder Shane Marshall hit a double in the bottom of the third for a two-run RBI. During Marshall’s at-bat, senior catcher TJ Wegmann was on third while senior outfielder Daniel Franchi was on second from a double. Both of those players scored off Marshall’s double and Binghamton took a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the third. Albany responded by scoring two runs in the next inning to tie Binghamton 2-2 at the top of the fourth inning. Although Albany scored a potential game-winning run in the 10th, Binghamton responded with one of their own runs to keep the game tied at 3-3.
The Bearcats started off the second game on the wrong foot as they allowed three runs to Albany in the first inning. Gsell hit a groundout RBI in the bottom of the first to put Binghamton on the scoreboard, advancing Marshall to home plate. Despite BU scoring a run in the third, it allowed two scoring runs in the fourth. At the end of the fourth, Albany led Binghamton 5-3, holding on to the lead to defeat the Bearcats.
After sophomore pitcher Ryan Bryggman gave up five runs in the second game, freshman pitcher Justin Rosner took over in the fourth and gave up zero hits in three innings. In the first game, sophomore pitcher Thomas Babalis pitched the first five innings where he gave up only one hit.
“We pitched well enough to put ourselves in a position to win, but we had too many walks yesterday which is uncharacteristic of the way we’ve pitched all year,” Sinicki said.
Sunday’s games were canceled due to inclement weather. This marked the second time this season where the second day of home games was canceled due to weather conditions.
“It’s a tough game to play when you don’t have that rhythm and you don’t get those [additional] at-bats and ground balls,” Sinicki said.
The Bearcats are looking to get back on track next weekend in a four-game series against NJIT. The first pitch in game one is set for noon on Saturday, April 17 at NYSEG Stadium in Binghamton, New York.