On Tuesday night, the Binghamton baseball team hosted Cornell for a nonconference matchup. Despite a strong offensive effort from the Bearcats, they were unable to come away with a victory, falling 10-8 to the Big Red.
“We did some good things, we just had a couple breakdowns in every phase of the game,” said Binghamton head coach Tim Sinicki. “Gotta play better baseball from beginning to end to win games…We just didn’t do enough good things to win.”
BU (15-23, 11-10 America East [AE]) attacked Cornell (10-23, 4-14 Ivy League) early, accumulating four runs in the first. Freshman outfielder Logan Haskell hit an RBI single up the middle to put the Bearcats on the board first. A couple of batters later, freshman designated hitter Evin Sullivan ripped a double down the left field line to bring another run in. The freshman finished the day batting 3-for-5 with two doubles and an RBI. Finally, sophomore infielder Andrew Tan smacked a two-run homer to give Binghamton a 4-0 advantage out of the gates.
“I thought we did a good job in that first inning putting four on the board,” Sinicki said. “Scoring eight runs in a mid-week game should be enough to typically win, so I was happy with most of the things we did offensively.”
The Big Red did not back down, however, as they put a run on the board in both the second and third innings. This cut the Bearcats’ lead in half. Binghamton did not plate another run until the fourth inning when sophomore outfielder Tommy Reifler scored on a wild pitch. BU extended its lead to 5-2 heading into the fifth inning. In the bottom of the sixth, junior outfielder Cavan Tully ripped a double down the right field line, plating two runs and bringing the score to 7-3.
“Tully has been great,” Sinicki said. “Early in the year he wasn’t hitting at the top of the order. We were struggling a little bit and I moved him up top and he’s really embraced that role…He’s been a catalyst for us offensively.”
Cornell broke the game open in the top of the seventh inning, putting four runs past the Bearcats to tie the game at seven apiece. After blanking the home team in the bottom of the seventh, the Big Red took the lead in the top of the eighth courtesy of a two-run homer. The visitors followed it up with an RBI double to go up 10-7.
Freshman pitcher Caden Rothbaum started on the mound for Binghamton, but only pitched 2.2 innings. The Bearcat gave up two runs and three hits while striking out four batters. BU threw six different pitchers as they combined for 17 strikeouts in total.
“Not everyone is gonna have their best stuff everyday,” Sinicki said. “I thought [Rothbaum, junior pitcher Tanner Sinicki and freshman pitcher Troy Butler] did a really good job and I thought [junior pitcher Jack Collins] did a good job, but unfortunately [junior pitcher Dom Dirado] and [sophomore pitcher Justin Rosner] struggled a little bit.”
Although BU scored a run in the bottom of the eighth inning, it was unable to complete the comeback in the ninth. The Bearcats had an opportunity to win the game, but left two runners stranded and fell to Cornell 10-8.
“We didn’t get the result we wanted to at the end with either one of those at bats,” Sinicki said. “All you can do is try to put yourself in a position to tie or win a game in the end, and I thought we did that, we just didn’t come through with the big hit when we needed to.”
Binghamton is slated to resume AE play against NJIT on Friday, May 6. First pitch is scheduled for 6 p.m. at the Bearcats Baseball Complex in Vestal, New York.