VESTAL, N.Y. - Third-seeded Binghamton baseball (26-23) scored seven runs in the first three innings and won the bullpen attrition battle over sixth-seeded Hartford (23-34) with a 10-5 America East tournament elimination game win Friday night at the Bearcats Sports Complex.

With the team's third win in four postseason games, BU advances to the championship round to face top-seeded Stony Brook. The Bearcats will have to beat the Seawolves twice on Saturday to win the program's fourth title in the last seven years. The first game begins at 1 p.m. Saturday. The "if necessary" game would immediately follow.

Hours after a heartbreaking loss to Stony Brook in a winners' bracket game, BU rebounded and turned up the offense immediately, scoring twice in the first inning, twice in the second and three times in the third to build a 7-2 lead. The Hawks rallied with a run in the fifth and two in the sixth to pull within two, 7-5.

But sophomore center fielder Shane Marshall keyed a three-run bottom of the sixth with a leadoff home run and freshman closer Jack Collins (3-2) steadied the Bearcats with 3.1 shutout innings on the hill. Collins struck out three and allowed just one hit.

Junior right fielder Anthony Meduri went 4-for-4 and junior left fielder Daniel Franchi  went 3-for-5 with an RBI. Marshall continued his torrid tournament with a 2-for-4 showing. In four games, he is 9-for-17 (.529) with three home runs and seven RBI and a walk-off hit in BU's tournament-opening win.