After losing its past three series in America East (AE) play, the Binghamton baseball team bounced back, sweeping SUNY rival UAlbany in three-game series over the weekend. After recorded a 4-3 walk off win in game one, the Bearcats shutout the Great Danes 4-0 in game two. In the final game, BU defeated UAlbany, completing the sweep.

“What we did [on Sunday] is something that we haven’t been able to do for a while, and that is — ‘to separate’,” said Binghamton head coach Tim Sinicki. “The ability to separate and to build on a lead always makes life easier for everybody.”

In the opening game on Friday, senior right-fielder Mike Gunning quickly got the Bearcats on the board with a three-run home run to right field. The Bearcats held a three-run lead until the fourth inning when the Great Danes drove in three runs — evening the score at three apiece. A strong six-inning bullpen performance by Binghamton prevented UAlbany from pushing across any more runs. Meanwhile, BU could not muster any runs either as the game went into extra innings. In the bottom of the 10th, with two runners on base, junior second-baseman Nick Roselli’s fly ball got lost in the lights and dropped in front of the Great Danes’ left fielder — allowing Binghamton to score the winning run and secure a 4-3 victory.

“[Gunning] is the most dangerous hitter in our lineup,” Sinicki said. “He’s got legitimate home run power. He’s a threat every time he steps into the box.”

In Saturday’s game, the Bearcats got out of the gate quickly with two runs scored in the first inning as junior catcher Evin Sullivan singled and Roselli scored on a wild pitch. In the fifth inning, Binghamton tacked on two more runs. Roselli crushed a solo home run to right field and Sullivan scored thanks to a sacrifice fly by senior first baseman Andrew Tan. Binghamton’s lead would remain 4-0 for the rest of the game thanks to five and a third shutout innings from senior pitcher Nelson Berkwich and three and two-thirds shutout innings in relief from sophomore pitcher Dan McAliney.

“All weekend long, [the bullpen] was really, really good,” Sinicki said. “The college game is getting more and more like the professional game in terms of the importance of the bullpen, and so those kids did a great job for us.”

In the weekend’s final game, the Bearcats opened the scoring in the first inning with a sacrifice fly from Sullivan. After Albany tied the game at one in the top of the second inning, Binghamton answered with four runs in the bottom half — courtesy of singles from senior outfielders Eric Madenberg and Tommy Reifler and a double from Roselli. In the fourth inning, the Bearcats added two runs off of a double by Tan, padding Binghamton’s lead to 7-1. After both teams continued to exchange runs, including a two-run home run to right-center field by junior catcher Zach Rogacki — his first homerun as a Bearcat — Binghamton completed the sweep with an 11-4 win.

“[Rogacki] has missed six or seven weeks with a broken bone in his wrist and the at-bats he’s getting now are really kind of his preseason at-bats,” Sinicki said. “[His homerun] today was really important, not just for us, but for him, as he gets back into his comfort zone in the batter’s box.”

Over the weekend, Binghamton outscored Albany 19-7 with 33 hits compared to Albany’s 15. Other notable performances from Sunday’s game include four-hit performances from both Tan and Reifler and three shutout innings in relief from freshman pitcher Hayden Tarsia, who recorded the victory.

“Both [Reifler and Tan] did a really good job,” Sinicki said. “For Reifler, basically, that is him in a nutshell in terms of how he is able to get on base and what he does for our offense. [Tan] I thought did a really good job of keeping the ball out of the air and kind of living with the line drives that he hit today.”

The Bearcats will look keep things rolling as they face Siena on Tuesday, April 23. First pitch is scheduled for 3 p.m. at Connors Park in Loudonville, New York.