After playing 80 consecutive road games, the Binghamton baseball team opened the newly reconstructed Bearcats Sports Complex by taking two out of three games from Albany this weekend.
The Bearcats (16-12, 7-7 America East) split Saturday’s doubleheader with the Great Danes (13-15-1, 8-7 A E), dropping the opener 5-3 in extra innings before taking the nightcap 4-3. They capped off the series on Sunday with a 4-1 win, with the final runs coming at the bottom of the third.
The series’ highlight for the Bearcats came on Sunday, in the form of a Jay Lynch complete game. The senior pitcher struck out eight and allowed only one run and two hits in nine innings to pick up his third win. He threw 80 strikes and took a no-hitter into the sixth.
In the process, Lynch lowered his season ERA to 2.44 and his conference ERA to 1.20. He was named America East Pitcher of the Week for the performance.
“[Lynch] gave us exactly what we needed,” Binghamton head coach Tim Sinicki said. “We’ve been struggling a little bit to score some runs lately … and he really settled in and pitched as well as really anyone has in an outing this spring so far. … He was real key for us obviously [on Sunday], keeping Albany in check and giving us the chance to scratch out a few runs.”
The Bearcats outhit Albany 7-2 in the finale as sophomore left fielder Jake Thomas reached base in three of his four plate appearances to improve his season on-base percentage to .542. As of Monday afternoon, Thomas’ on-base clip led the nation.
The game opened with Lynch walking Albany senior outfielder Nolan Gaige on four pitches and hitting No. 2 hitter Greg Muller. The Great Danes played small ball from there, using a sacrifice bunt to advance the runners and a sacrifice fly to score their only run of the game. From there, Lynch buckled down to strike out the side in the second and coast to the victory.
After plating a run in each of the first two innings, Binghamton rallied with two outs for two third-inning runs. Freshman third baseman Reed Gamache and sophomore outfielder Zach Blanden each tallied an RBI.
The series kicked off on Saturday with Albany using three walks and a hit batter to snap a 3-3 ninth-inning tie and win in extra innings. The Great Danes scored the go-ahead run when Binghamton freshman Jake Cryts walked Gaige with one out and the bases loaded, and a sacrifice fly added an insurance run.
Senior pitcher Jake Lambert went seven innings, scattering seven hits without an earned run. He struck out four and didn’t walk a batter in the no-decision.
Sophomore reliever Mike Kaufman shouldered the loss.
The Bearcats struck first in the nightcap with two runs in the second inning, but Albany used two runs in the fourth and one in the fifth to take a 3-2 lead.
Binghamton responded immediately, though, as Nevares delivered a fifth-inning RBI double to tie the game, and Ruby hit a sacrifice fly to plate the winning run.
Junior pitcher Jack Rogalla earned his third win, tossing seven innings and allowing no earned runs and only four hits.
The BU pitching staff now owns a 3.71 ERA, best in the America East.
Sinicki said he thought the team performed fairly well with the excitement that surrounded the series.
“The conference as a whole is very competitive, and I think there’s very little that’s separating any of the teams right now,” he said. “I just think that you’ve got to play good baseball in order to win games, or, because everyone is so similar, you can find yourself on the wrong side of the game.”
As the second half of conference play approaches, Binghamton stands in third, just a half-game behind Albany and Hartford, who are tied for second at 8-7. Maine leads the conference with an 11-3 record after sweeping its weekend three-game series against sixth-place UMBC.
Binghamton is scheduled to return to action this afternoon against Marist. First pitch for the non-conference match is set for 3 p.m. at McCann Baseball Field.