The Binghamton baseball team closed its 2015 campaign Saturday against Stony Brook without a win in the three-game series, but managed to avoid being swept by the America East regular season champions. Instead, the weather forced the Bearcats (17-24-2, 6-16-1 AE) to a 4-4 draw against the Seawolves (34-14-1, 18-4-1 AE) in a truncated Senior Day showing for BU.
Dropping its first two matchups against SBU on Friday, 13-4 and 5-0, Binghamton captured an early lead against its conference rival on Saturday. Sophomore shortstop Brendan Skidmore lit the fuse for the Bearcats in the first inning, smacking a double into right field to score senior right fielder Jake Thomas and junior third baseman David Schanz. Up 2-0, freshman left fielder Pat Britt kept the fire going for BU in the first, recording an RBI on a sacrifice fly to bring home junior second baseman Reed Gamache.
Already facing a 3-0 deficit heading into the second inning, the visitors went to work with a run of their own on an RBI ground out from freshman infielder Andruw Gazzola. After a scoreless second inning by BU, Stony Brook struck again in the top of the third to cut the margin to one, 3-2.
Not to be out done, Gamache doubled in the bottom of the third to score Schanz, putting Binghamton back up by two runs, 4-2. After three scoreless innings, which saw the Bearcats leave three runners on base, the Seawolves found home plate again in the sixth to turn the contest back to a one-score affair. In the seventh inning, Stony Brook finally tied the game at four. However, with the sweep within striking distance, SBU’s bats went cold — recording only one hit throughout the following two innings. Binghamton also had trouble hammering the final nail in the game’s closing innings. And with the Bearcats set to bat in the bottom of the ninth inning, heavy rain in the area called the Senior Day contest as a 4-4 tie — the first tie in AE conference play this season.
The Bearcats fell behind early in Friday’s contest, trailing 4-0 by the bottom of the second. Leading the charge for BU in the second inning, freshman designated hitter Jason Agresti hit home run to left field to put Binghamton on the board, 4-1. Following a four-run fourth inning for the Seawolves, freshman left fielder CJ Krowiak drove in the Bearcats’ second home run of the day, scoring redshirt senior Brian Ruby along the way to make the tally, 10-3. Skidmore delivered a solo homer in the eighth, the third home run of the day for Binghamton, but the scoring power of SBU was too much for the hosts to match, falling by a final of 13-4.
In a slow opening to Friday’s nightcap, the Seawolves drew first blood in the fifth inning off of a double from freshman first baseman Malcolm Nachmanoff. Despite Thomas, Skidmore and Agresti each reaching base in the sixth for Binghamton, the Bearcats failed to convert — entering the final inning down, 1-0.
In the seventh inning, SBU found its groove, scoring four runs on four hits to push its lead to 5-0. After a pair of fly-outs and a strikeout from BU, SBU claimed the shutout victory, 5-0.
The Bearcats are set to graduate seven seniors from the program including veteran outfielder and at-bat leader Zach Blanden. Saturday’s tie was also the last for Ruby, Thomas, right hand pitchers Anthony Grillini, Greg Ostner and Mike Urbanski, as well as infielder Kyle Coronel.