America East Baseball News & Notes Binghamton Climbs Out of the Cellar

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A couple of big series highlighted play in the America East Conference last weekend. The Binghamton Bearcats needed and got a big series sweep over UAlbany to escape last place in the league. Bryant University battled UMass Lowell at home and took two of three from the River Hawks to maintain their lead in the conference. A team that may need some attention paid to them is NJIT who also took two of three from UMBC. By doing so, they have put themselves in the conversation for second place in the league. Here is how last weekend went.

It was a series that Binghamton had to have. They were in last place and on the outside looking in as far as the conference postseason tournament was concerned. They were hosting a UAlbany team that, despite their record, was hoping to separate themselves from the bottom of the league. The Bearcats (16-21, 6-9) would take the series behind some good pitching and a little luck to jump past the Great Danes (5-27, 3-11) and into 5th place in the league.

On Friday night, it would take 10 innings for the Bearcats to take game one. Binghamton struck first in the bottom of the first on a 3-run HR to right by Mike Gunning. The Great Danes tied the game in the 4th on a 2-run double down the left field line by John Vitucci that was followed by an RBI squeeze bunt base hit from Luck Myers.

The game stayed tied until the bottom of the tenth when Bearcats 2nd baseman Nick Roselli hit a fly ball to left field that was dropped by the Great Danes LF Anthony Scarabino. The error would allow Zach Rogacki to score the winning run, which was unearned, and give Binghamton a 4-3 win.

Saturday’s game two was about pitching. Bearcats pitcher Nelson Berkwich (3-4) went the first 5.1 and gave up three hits, 4 walks, and six strikeouts. He was followed to the mound by relief pitcher Dan McAliney who went the final 3.2 and gave up one hit with two strikeouts to grab his first save of the season. Binghamton took game two 4-0.

In game three, the offense came back to life. Leadoff hitters Tommy Reifler and Andrew Tan each had 4-hit games. Rogacki had a 2-hit game with two runs scored and two RBI, including a 2-run HR in the sixth. Hayden Tarsia came out of the Bearcats bullpen to pick up the win (1-2) with three innings of two-hit, shutout baseball. Binghamton gets a big series win.

The NJIT Highlanders (15-20, 6-5) had a big series of their own last weekend. Their three-game set with UMBC (15-17, 7-5) was for second place in the standings. Friday’s night game was decided by two crooked number innings from the Highlanders. A 3-run fifth, and a four-run seventh. Those innings backed up the relief pitching of Joe Georgini (5-2) who went 2.2 IP, giving up one hit, and zero runs. He struck out two and walked one after coming in for starter Aidan Kidd who went the first 6.1. UMBC’s ace Luke Johnson went six and allowed 5 hits, 3 runs, and an earned run. He walked no one and struck out five.

It took extra innings on Saturday for UMBC to even the series with a 12-9 win. The 5-6-7 hitters in the UMBC lineup went a combined 9-for-16 with 7 RBI, and 7 runs scored. Luke Trythall, Danny Whatt, and Dawson Baracani had three-hit games each. Out of the bullpen Sam Downs (3-2) threw 5.1 IP, gave up 1 hit, no runs, 2 BB, and 4 SO. He threw 72 pitches in that relief role.

NJIT took the series by banging out 13 hits 7 for extra-bases and scoring 12 runs on Sunday. The 12-3 win also saw the Highlanders do some pitching of their own Holden de Jong (2-4) went the first seven and he allowed 3 hits and 1 unearned run. He struck out eight in the outing. Logan Wiley (3-3) took the loss for UMBC giving up 7 hits, and 6 earned runs in 2.2 innings. The two teams are tied in the loss column with five losses.

Bryant University (26-12, 13-2) had a fight on its hands at home with UMass Lowell (17-21) 7-7). The Bulldogs took game one 6-1 as they scored four runs in the first two innings and rode the 7.1 innings of pitching from Austin Wainer (3-1) with four hits, one earned run, nine strikeouts, and two walks for the win. River Hawks starter Michael Simes (1-2) was not bad going six innings, seven hits, and four earned runs.

On Saturday, the River Hawks evened the series with a 9-7 win. A 6-run fourth powered by a grand slam HR by Alex Luccini was the difference. It would take six pitchers for the River Hawks to get the win. James Capellupo was the winner and goes to 4-2. Brian Foley earned his second save of the year by striking out the side in the ninth.

On Sunday, it looked like the River Hawks were going to take the series on the road. Up 7-4 in the eighth, the River Hawks bullpen faltered. The combination of Kevin Zarnoch and Foley could not hold the lead. They gave up four runs over the final two innings to give Bryant a walk-off 8-7 win. The key stat in the series was the top four hitters in the Bulldogs lineup Zac Zyons, Gavin Noriega, Branyn Durant, and Carmine Petosa who went a combined 16-for-51 in the three games. River Hawks RF Carlos Martinez, who leads the league in doubles, had a rough weekend as he went hitless in the series (0-13).

The Maine Black Bears (8-27, 4-7) continued to struggle, getting swept in non-league play by Rider University at home.

NJIT had both the AE Player of the Week and the AE Rookie of the Week. The player is Luke Longo who had a .500 BA, a .682 on-base percentage, and a .929 slugging percentage. He drove in 11 runs while scoring seven times. In their non-conference win over St. Peters, Longo went 3-for-4 with four runs scored and seven runs batted in. The Highlanders won the game by a 27-14 score. The rookie is Cole Campbell as he batted .467 with a .619 on-base percentage. He had three hits, three runs, and two RBI

The AE Pitcher of the Week is Austin Wainer of Bryant. In his start vs the River Hawks, Wainer allowed only one base runner to get past second base. He is sixth in the league in ERA at 3.66, fifth in opposing BA at .244, second in innings pitched with 51.2, and fifth in strikeouts with 48. He has become the ace of a really good staff.

This weekend, Binghamton is at Maine, NJIT is at UAlbany, and UMBC is at UMass Lowell. A change in second place could be had by the weekend’s end. Bryant is playing non-league baseball at Pittsburgh.

Next week we look back at what happened this past week.