VESTAL, N.Y. - Freshman reliever Nick Gallagher pitched 5.1 innings of one-hit ball and Binghamton baseball (23-20, 15-3 America East) erupted for seven runs in the fifth inning en route to a 7-3 win over visiting Stony Brook (20-23, 9-7 AE) Sunday afternoon at Varsity Field. The win, BU's eighth straight, capped a three-game sweep of the Seawolves and stretched the team's first-place America East cushion to 4.5 games with six to play. 

The Bearcats improved to 12-0 at home and are the only unbeaten team in the nation on its home field.

On the strength of two unearned runs in the top of the second and another run in the fourth, Stony Brook led 3-0 before BU broke out the bats in the fifth. Binghamton sent 11 men to the plate and eight straight reached base as BU scored seven runs on six hits. The big blow was a bases-clearing triple to the wall in center by junior first baseman Brendan Skidmore. Senior second baseman Reed Gamache drove in his eighth run of the series with an RBI single, sophomore catcher Jason Agresti hit an RBI single, senior third baseman David Schanz had an RBI and sophomore shortstop Paul Rufo added a two-out, two-strike RBI single to plate the final run.

Gallagher took over for sophomore starter Nick Wegmann in the fourth inning and shut down Stony Brook the rest of the way. He retired 15 consecutive batters before allowing a ninth-inning single. Gallagher (W, 4-2) struck out one and walked two. In his two outings this week, he didn't allow a run in 9.1 innings of work. Wegmann was solid as well, only giving up two hits and an earned run in 3.2 innings.

Gamache capped his big weekend with another hit and RBI. He extended his hit streak to 15 games - the second-longest in BU's Division I tenure (Joe Charron had a 21-game hit streak in 2010). Gamache drove in 10 runs in four games this week and hit .500 (7-for-14). In his last 19 games, he is hitting .425 (34-for-80) with 23 RBI.

Skidmore had three RBI to push his season total to 33. Sophomore center fielder CJ Krowiak and Agresti had two hits apiece.  

Binghamton plays at Siena on Tuesday and then returns to the Albany area to face the Great Danes in a three-game weekend set.