ORONO, Maine - Freshman first baseman Kevin Gsell drove in four runs and classmate Thomas Babalis stymied Maine for seven innings to lead Binghamton baseball (23-22, 12-9 America East) to a 7-2 victory over the Black Bears (15-32, 11-12 AE) in the regular season finale Saturday afternoon from Mahaney Diamond. With the win, BU locked up the No. 3 seed for the upcoming six-team America East Championship, which Binghamton will host starting on Wednesday. 

Gsell went 3-for-4 with three doubles and four RBI and BU broke out of a scoring slump with four runs in the first inning and two more in the third to take control. The first six batters reached in the first and sophomore designated hitter Sam Freedman opened the scoring with a two-run double to the wall in right center. Two batters later, Gsell pulled a ball into the left field corner for a two-run double and a 4-0 BU cushion. 

After Maine got a run back in the second inning, BU struck for two more in the third. After singles by junior second baseman Alex Baratta and Freedman and a fielder's choice out, Gsell struck again with a two-run double back into the left field corner. Up 6-1, the two teams played three scoreless middle innings before trading inconsequential runs in the seventh and eighth innings.

Freedman went 2-for-4 with two RBI and two runs scored and sophomore center fielder Shane Marshall added two hits.

Meanwhile, Babalis (W, 4-1) worked 7.0 strong innings and limited Maine to three singles and one earned run. He retired the Black Bears in order in the first, fourth, fifth and sixth innings and stranded a pair in the seventh to keep the comfortable margin. Sophomore Josh Kopcza worked two scoreless innings to finish it off.

The Bearcats will host No. 6 Hartford in a first-round game at 2:30 p.m. on Wednesday. Fourth-seeded UMass Lowell will face fifth-seeded Maine in the tournament's opening game at 11 a.m. on Wednesday. Top-seeded Stony Brook and No. 2 Albany will open their tournaments on Thursday.