The Maine Black Bears jumped out to a 10-0 fifth inning lead on Friday afternoon, and then held off the Binghamton Bearcats 11-7 in the America East baseball season opener at the Bearcats Baseball Stadium Complex in Vestal, New York.
Binghamton was playing their first home game in their new 84,000 square foot stadium, and had not played an actual home game in 1,029 days spanning three seasons while it was being constructed. The guests from Maine ruined the party however. Joe Bramanti drove in a run on a fielders choice and Jake Rainess had an RBI sacrifice fly in the top of the first to make it 2-0 early on. Quinn McDaniel padded the lead to 5-0 with a three-run homer to left in the second. The Black Bears added four more runs in the fifth on back to back solo homers on back to back pitches by Scout Knotts and Rainess, a Jeff Mejia RBI single, and an RBI sacrifice fly from Jeremiah Jenkins for a 10-0 advantage. The Bearcats got on the board with a two-run homerun from Connor Aoki, and also scored another on an error in the same frame in the sixth. Binghamton tried to rally again in the ninth off two Maine pitchers. They would be gifted a run on a balk, got an RBI single from Cavan Tully, and a two-run double from Aoki but simply ran short of baserunners and outs.
Maine starting pitcher Trevor Labonte (1-2) out of York got his first win on the mound allowing three runs on six hits with one walk and eight strikeouts in 6.1 innings. McDaniel had three hits and four RBI while scoring two runs. Knotts and Rainess added two RBI each. The Black Bears are now 4-11 overall in the early season. Aoki was the offensive leader for Binghamton with two hits and four RBI. Thomas Babalis (1-3) took the pitching loss allowing 10 runs (eight earned) on seven hits with four walks and five strikeouts in 4.1 innings. The Bearcats fall to 3-11. The teams are scheduled to play single games both Saturday and Sunday to finish off the America East opening series.
