Binghamton won their second straight America East Baseball Championship on Saturday night by defeating Maine 7-3 at the Bearcats Baseball Complex in Vestal, New York.
The Bearcats would never trail, striking first when Steven Kraus hit a one out solo homerun in the bottom of the second inning off Black Bears starter Rex Hauser. Hauser only went 2.2 innings. Brody Rasmussen answered for Maine by taking the first pitch of the third inning well over the fence in leftfield to quickly tie it up. But in the bottom half, after the leadoff batter reached on an error, Matt Bolton put his Binghamton team in front for good with a long two-run homer to right. Zach Anderson added a RBI double to extend it to 4-1 in that same half of the frame. The Bearcats pitching was very good in not allowing the Black Bears to get any momentum and force a second winner take all championship contest on Sunday. Brady Lesiak (2-1) got the victory, as he entered in the third inning with two outs and retired nine straight batters, before Hunter St. Denis singled with two outs in the sixth. They added on to their lead with one run in the sixth on an error, and two more in the eighth on a Tim Hennig two-run double. Maine, who was playing their fifth postseason game in four days, did pick up a pair in their last at bat on a pinch hit RBI double by Nolan DeAndrade and a RBI single by Quinn Murphy. Albert De La Rosa would fly out to right to stop the rally and end the Black Bears season.
Maine was held to four hits in the defeat. Rasmussen, DeAndrade, and Murphy knocked in the three runs with one RBI each. The freshman Hauser (0-1), in just his second career start, was tagged with the loss giving up two earned runs on four hits with no walks and one strikeout. Jack Donlin, Tommy Martin, and Owen Wheeler also pitched. Wheeler struckout four in two innings. The Black Bears end the year with a record of 24-32. Bolton had three hits and the two big RBI with his homerrun that put Binghamton ahead to stay. Kraus had two hits including his second inning solo homer, and Hennig knocked in two runs. Jake Dally also pitched well out of the bullpen in earning his first save of the season. He did give up two runs in the ninth, but did retire eight hitters in a row at one point. The Bearcats (31-20) are headed back to the NCAA Tournament for a second straight season, and will await word on a location and opponent during the NCAA Division I Tournament Selection Show on Monday at 12 p.m. They become the first America East host school since Stony Brook in 2012 to win the conference championship on their home field, and the first back to back champion since they also did it in 2013-14.
Photo from UMaine Athletics
