The Maine baseball team battled from behind on two different occasions on Saturday afternoon, before Binghamton walked it off in the 11th inning 8-7 in the middle game of a three game America East series at Bearcats Baseball Complex in Vestal, New York.
The Black Bears trailed 2-0, 3-1, and 5-3 before Juju Stevens tied it with a two-run homerun to right field in the eighth inning. After the Bearcats grabbed a run back in the bottom half of the eighth on an error, the visitors sent it to extras on a Shane Andrus RBI single in the ninth. Albert De La Rosa gave Maine their first lead of the day with a double to knock in Brody Rasmussen in the 11th. Binghamton had the answer though in the last half of the frame off closer Sebastian Holt when Grant Hunter singled to tie it, and Tommy Popoff would also single to drive in Braylen Gonzalez to end it in walk-off fashion.
Steven Kraus led Binghamton in hits with four, while Popoff had two. Popoff had two RBI, and Mike Stellrecht also drove in two with a homerun. Aiden Milburn (4-2) picked up the pitching win with 3.0 innings of relief. The Bearcats take back a three game lead in the conference over the Black Bears improving to 24-17 and 13-4 in America East. Rasmussen and De La Rosa had three hits each for Maine. De La Rosa had three RBI. Stevens knocked in two with his eighth inning homerun, while Rasmussen and Stevens each also scored two runs. Holt (1-1) suffered the loss, as his team falls to 16-27 and 10-7 in conference play. The teams play the rubber game on Sunday at 11 a.m. Maine will be seeking their fifth straight series win.
Photo of De La Rosa from UMaine Athletics
