VESTAL, N.Y. - Binghamton baseball (25-9, 11-2 America East) hit seven home runs and swept a doubleheader from visiting UMass Lowell (22-21, 10-9 AE) on a rainy Saturday afternoon at the Complex. The Bearcats won the opener 6-2 and took the nightcap 6-5 on a walk-off hit in the bottom of the seventh.

Binghamton has now won nine straight conference games and stretched its lead in the America East to three games over UMBC with seven remaining. The Bearcats entered the game 17th in the country in win percentage and tacked on two more to improve to 12-2 in their last 14 games and 25-6 since late February.

Senior first baseman Brendan Skidmore secured the sweep with a walk-off RBI single in the bottom of the seventh of the nightcap. Tied 5-5, sophomore third baseman Justin Yurchak led off the bottom of the seventh with a walk. He went to second on a wild pitch and took third on a sacrifice bunt by junior catcher Jason Agresti. Skidmore then lashed an 0-1 pitch sharply into center field to plate Yurchak with the winning run.

The River Hawks had tied the game one inning earlier with three runs on three hits. Junior reliever Dylan Stock (W, 2-0) struck out two of the three batters he faced in the seventh to record the win.

Senior left fielder Darian Herncane hit a two-run home run in the bottom of the fourth to give BU a 5-2 lead. It was the third home run of the game for the Bearcats, who have now hit 27 for the season. Back in the first inning, Yurchak and Agresti hit back-to-back solo home runs to left field to tie and then move the Bearcats ahead 3-2.

Herncane went 2-for-3 with his fourth home run of the season and 2 RBI. Skidmore and Agresti each had two hits and an RBI. Skidmore's run driven in was his team-best 26th of the spring.

In the opener, junior center fielder CJ Krowiak and freshman second baseman Justin Drpich belted two home runs apiece and junior Nick Gallagher (W, 7-1) shut down the River Hawks on four hits over 6.0 scoreless innings. Gallagher, who entered the game ranked 15th in the nation in ERA (1.57), struck out a season-high eight and dropped his ERA down to 1.40.

Krowiak hit his first with two out in the bottom of the third inning, taking it over the left field fence to put BU up 2-0. One inning later, Drpich sent a 2-0 pitch into the bullpen in left for a 3-0 cushion.

After Gallagher left two stranded in the top of the fifth, Agresti brought in a run to make it 4-0. In the seventh, Krowiak tomahawked an 0-2 pitch over the wall in left for a 5-0 lead. The River Hawks got two back in the top of the eighth before Drpich hit a two-out, solo home run in the bottom of the inning to complete the scoring. In his last three games, Drpich has gone 6-for-12 with three home runs and seven RBI.

In the ninth, BU made two nice defensive plays to keep the score as is. Herncane ran down a long ball at the wall in left field for the second out. Skidmore then scooped an errant throw at first and applied the tag for the final out of the game - one of several nice catch-and-tag plays he made at first.

Binghamton scored runs in five of the last six innings.

The teams wrap up their three-game series with a single game at 1 p.m. on Sunday.