LOWELL, Mass. - Fourth-seeded Albany (26-24) built a 4-0 lead and tacked on three late-inning runs to pin a 7-3 loss on top-seeded Binghamton baseball (30-12) in an America East tournament game Thursday afternoon at rainy LeLacheur Park. The regular season champion Bearcats will now have to work their way through the consolation bracket to keep their title hopes alive. With rain causing havoc with the tournament schedule, BU will sit a day and play its next game on Saturday.  

The loss snapped a seven-game BU win streak at the conference tournament, dating back to 2014.

With Pitcher of the Year Nick Gallagher on the hill, the Great Danes struck for four runs in the top of the third inning, using two walks and a bunt single to get going. A two-run single and RBI double did most of the damage. 

Held off the board for four innings, BU struck for three in the bottom of the fifth to tighten the score. Freshman shortstop Greg Satriale led off with a single up the middle and junior center fielder CJ Krowiak lashed a 1-out single to put two on. Senior first baseman Eddie Posavec followed with an RBI double to make it 4-1. Three straight walks brought in two more runs and with steady rain falling, BU had the bases loaded with one out. But a strikeout and fly out left three stranded and kept the score 4-3.

Albany then used three separate two-out RBI hits to tack on single runs in the sixth, eighth and ninth innings. 

Binghamton, which led the league in slugging during the regular season, was held to seven hits and was blanked in eight of nine innings.

Krowiak went 2-for-4 with a run scored.

Rain played a role the entire day as both teams were brought to the ballpark at 7:30 a.m. for what was intended to be a 9 a.m. start. But both were sent back to their hotels, only to be summoned a few hours later for the 12:45 p.m. start time. The tarp crew was at the ready throughout the game as the rain never let up. Immediately following the final out, the tarp was brought out and UMBC and Stony Brook were sent back to their hotels. The forecast for Friday looks as bleak, and three games have to be played before the Bearcats play their first in the lower bracket, meaning BU's next game will likely be on Saturday. In the original format, BU would have to win four straight games to capture the tournament championship, as it did in 2014.