In its first nonconference matchup since beginning America East play, the Binghamton baseball team lost 8-7 to St. Bonaventure on Tuesday afternoon. Despite a late rally that nearly saw the Bearcats come back from an early three-run deficit, the team ultimately fell short of a win.

“[We] didn’t really play well enough to win, so [we] kind of didn’t deserve to win,” said Binghamton head coach Tim Sinicki. “Just didn’t execute well enough in any of the three areas of the game — offense, defense or pitching.”

The Bonnies (10-16, Atlantic 10 2-7) took an early lead in the game, scoring one run in the first inning and another two in the second thanks to a home run. Binghamton (13-12, AE 4-2) answered with a score from an error in the third inning and an RBI groundout by junior infielder Mike Stellrecht in the fourth before the Bonnies put up two unearned runs in the bottom of the inning to make it a 5-2 ballgame. The Bearcats managed to score runs in the fifth and seventh innings, courtesy of a fielder’s choice and an RBI single from sophomore infielder Todd Abraham.

“We do have tremendous fight, and I do believe that our guys believe in themselves and each other,” Sinicki said. “We’re never out of a game, and we keep making it close. And if they score a run, we somehow battle back, and we put ourselves in a position to win games, even the games that we lose.”

St. Bonaventure responded with two runs in the seventh, including another unearned. Each team put up another run in the eighth inning as BU scored off an RBI triple by senior catcher Zach Rogacki, making the score 8-5 heading into the ninth. Binghamton managed to score two more runs and had a runner on third base when graduate student first baseman Freddy Forgione struck out, ending the game and falling just short of a comeback victory.

“People say hitting is contagious, and sometimes you hope that that’s the case,” Sinicki said. “And with [Rogacki and freshman outfielder Matt Bolton] doing well, you hope the guys in the lineup behind them feed off of that. Those two guys give us a lot of energy, and they’re on base a lot, so our guys do feed off of it. They’re just really our offensive catalysts right now and they’ve both done a really, really good job.”

The game saw Binghamton use six pitchers, including redshirt freshman outfielder Ian Kaiser, who had his first collegiate outing after recovering from Tommy John surgery. Kaiser pitched 1.1 hitless innings, allowing no runners on base during his time on the mound.

“Today was his first college outing, and he went out and he pitched a clean inning and a third,” Sinicki said of Kaiser. “So there were some bright spots, but we didn’t do enough consistently on the mound to keep them at bay. Every time we scored, I felt like we gave up a runner to let them build that lead back up that we had cut into.”

Binghamton will resume conference play with a three-game series against UMBC beginning on Friday, April 4. First pitch of game one is scheduled for 6 p.m. at Alumni Field in Baltimore, Maryland.