BALTIMORE, Md. - Binghamton baseball made it six conference wins in a row, amassing 30 hits and 20 runs in a doubleheader sweep of host UMBC Saturday afternoon at Alumni Field. The Bearcats (20-19, 10-6 America East) won 13-4 and 7-5 and in the process, clinched a playoff berth. Binghamton will host the six-team America East tournament on May 22-26 at the Bearcats Baseball Complex.

Junior second baseman Alex Baratta had a near perfect day, reaching base in 10-of-11 at-bats and collecting six hits, five runs, a home run and three RBI.  By going 6-for-8 with a home run and triple, Baratta raised his America East leading average to .403. Since March 15 (last 25 games), Baratta is batting .454 (44-for-97) with 28 RBI. Senior right fielder Anthony Meduri went 5-for-8 with four doubles and four RBI and sophomore center fielder Shane Marshall went 6-for-10 with three RBI. 

In the opener, BU exploded for 11 runs in the first three innings and totalled 17 hits en route to the lopsided win. After stranding two runners in the first, the Bearcats batted around in the second and scored seven runs on eight hits. Marshall hit a three-run triple and senior designated hitter Sean Trenholm added a two-run home run. One inning later, BU tacked on four more runs with three coming on a bases-clearing double by Meduri. 

With the score 11-2 after three innings, the teams each scored two runs the rest of the way. The offensive outburst was plenty for senior starter Nick Gallagher (W, 3-4), who scattered three runs over 6.0 innings with four strikeouts. Senior reliever Robert Brown went the final 3.0 innings and allowed three hits and a run with four strikeouts. Junior left fielder Daniel Franchi had three RBI, as did Meduri and Marshall. Baratta went 4-for-6 with a solo home run, three runs scored and two RBI. He singled in the first, hit an RBI single in the second, singled in the third, hit the home run in the fifth, reached on an infield error in the seventh and struck out in the ninth. 

In Game 2, UMBC jumped out of the gate with three runs in the first before BU roared back with two in the second, one in the third and two in the fourth to take the lead for good. The teams traded runs over the three innings with the Bearcats holding on for the win after UMBC brought the tying run to the plate in the seventh. 

Binghamton put its leadoff hitter on base in five of the seven innings but left 12 runners stranded, keeping this game contained for the Retrievers. 

Junior starter Ben Anderson (W, 8-2) tied the school record for wins in a season. He worked 5.0 innings and scattered seven hits and four runs while striking out nine. With his nine Ks, Anderson brought his season total to 91, breaking BU's season record of 87, set by Mike Bunal in 2016. Freshman Jack Collins notched his team-high third save with 2.0 innings of work. 

Freshman first baseman Kevin Gsell belted his second career home run - a two-run shot in the second inning that brought BU back into the game. Gsell added a sacrifice fly in the third and finished with three RBI. Meduri went 3-for-4 with an RBI and Marshall went 3-for-5. Baratta reached base all five times he hit with an RBI triple in the fourth and a single in the sixth. 

Meduri delivered an important two-out, two-strike RBI double in the sixth that gave BU an insurance run, up 6-4. After UMBC tightened the score to 6-5, Franchi came through in similar fashion in the seventh, hitting a two-out, two-strike RBI single to make it 7-5. 

Collins worked around a one-out hit batter to close out the game with two fly outs. 

The teams will complete the three-game series with a game on Sunday. The start time has been pushed back to 3 p.m. with rain expected earlier in the day.

America East Standings
Stony Brook 14-6
Binghamton 10-6
Albany 9-9
Hartford 9-9
Maine 8-8
UMass Lowell 7-11
UMBC 6-14