VESTAL, N.Y. - A poised and determined 2009 Binghamton baseball team did what no previous BU team had done before. Head coach Tim Sinicki's young but confident squad produced a myriad of accomplishments in 2009 — none more important than the program's first-ever appearance in the NCAA regionals and the program's first-ever NCAA win.

Along the way, BU won a school-record 30 games and captured the program's third straight America East regular season title. Binghamton also locked in the distinction of being the only program in the nation to raise its win total in six consecutive seasons. During that span, BU has also held the highest conference win percentage in the America East (61%).

But this year's squad climbed the final hurdle that had eluded talented BU teams of the last two years — winning the America East tournament title and seizing with it, the automatic NCAA berth. The '09 team showed the moxy of a veteran group, rallying for back-to-back wins at the America East Championship and then impressing many at the NCAA Greenville Regional with a never-quit attitude that resulted in the program's historic first NCAA win.

BU catches stride in April
The Bearcats posted a quick eye-catcher in their second game of the season, defeating  2008 NCAA team Dallas Baptist 3-1. After dropping four games against Mountain West runnerup and nationally-ranked New Mexico, BU swept Maryland- Eastern Shore and took three of four against Lehigh. A 1-3 finish to March left Binghamton's record at 9-12 heading into conference play.

The team's resilience showed, however, in a twinbill sweep of Hartford as BU rallied from a 4-0 late-inning hole in game one before flexing its offensive muscle in a 13-0 rout. The final two games of the opening America East series were rained out.

Weather would continue to play a role in the remainder of BU's season as rain both cost the team four games against low-rung conference opponents, keeping the team's regular-season title at bay until the final weekend. But rain and specifically lightning also accompanied the team through its magical ride through the America East and NCAA tournaments, and the ensuing weather delays were almost a wel- come addition to the team's battle cry.

Bearcats steamroll through league opponents
After sweeping Hartford to open conference play, BU took three of four from Albany on the road and then hosted defending champion Stony Brook for a key weekend series. The Seawolves had knocked off BU for the 2008 conference crown. The teams played four dramatic one-run games with the Bearcats claim- ing three wins with more late-inning dramatics.   In the opening game, BU rallied from a 7-3 deficit in its final at-bat, winning the game on a Jeff Abrams walk-off single to the wall.  In game two, BU trailed 3-1 in the eighth inning before ty- ing it and then winning it on a Corey Taylor RBI single in the bottom of the ninth. A two-out RBI single by Jim Calderone in BU's final at-bat won the third game of the series.

After a four-game sweep of NJIT and a solid 8-5 win over fellow NCAA team Marist, BU took two lopsided games from UMBC to run its record to 23-15, 10-2 in conference play. During the April surge, the Bearcats won 14 of 16 games with a pair of seven-game win streaks.

On the always difficult road trip to Maine, BU dropped the first two games and seemed destined to lose a third. Down to their last strike, Corey Taylor delivered a full- count, two-out RBI single in the seventh inning to tie the game at 3-3. Then in the 11th inning (fourth extra inning), BU pushed across the winning run on a suicide squeeze bunt. The Bearcats earned the series split with a 4-0 win in the nightcap. It marked the first time in nine conference series' spanning two years that BU had not won at least three of the four games.

BU clinches title, earns host role for tourney
Another big comeback sealed the team's third straight regular sea- son title on the final weekend. Trailing visiting Vermont in the sixth inning of a seven-game con- test, BU rallied on a C.J. Lukaszewski game-tying two-out single and then won the game in the bottom of the seventh to clinch the title, top-seed and host role for the tournament. In the process, the Bearcats became the first America East team to win three consecutive regular season titles since former member Delaware won five in a row from 1994-98. The Bearcats also became BU's first team in any sport to win three straight regular season crowns.

After having to travel to Long Island to play the previous two America East Championships despite owning the top seed, BU took advantage of the host role by go- ing undefeated and scoring a tournament-record 37 runs.
 
BU overcomes lightning delays, knocks off Vermont, Albany to capture crown
At Pete Sylvester Field in nearby Endicott, BU opened the tournament by facing the same Vermont team it had dropped three of four to less than one week earlier. After squandering a 4-0 lead, BU trailed 7-4 in the eighth inning before exploding for six runs in the final two frames. One night later, the Bearcats again rallied, scoring 10 straight runs to erase a 7-1 margin against Albany.

The comeback was sweet revenge for several BU veterans and coaches, who endured the Great Danes' improbable comeback win over Binghamton in the 2007 conference tournament. Senior Kyle Klee drove in three runs and freshman Dave Ciocchi had a home run, two hits and two RBI as the Bearcats went 2-0 for the first time in four America East tournament appearances.

One night later, Albany emerged out of the loser's bracket and the two teams began a memorable championship game. After waiting out a nearly two-hour lightning delay, BU rang up 20 hits and 16 runs and defeated the Great Danes 16-6. Between a nearly two-hour start delay because the previous game went long, the 1:53 lightning delay and another 32-minute delay, the total elapsed time of the ball game was 7 hours, 6 minutes, which drew interest from the baseball almanac folks.

At 3:06 a.m. on Sunday, shortstop Jeff Abrams threw to Jim Calderone for a force-out at second to end the game and set off a celebration that was as eerie as it was historic. The weather and length of the game negated the typical media coverage and many of the fans, especially those with young children, headed home before the conclusion. The only lights in the vicinity were from the ball field, where a weary bunch of BU players and coaches whooped it up amid an otherwise quiet early-morning calm.

Calderone was named the tournament's Most Outstanding Player after hitting .615 (8-for-13) with four RBI and playing stellar defense at second.

Lukaszewski, senior pitcher Jeff Dennis and freshman pitcher Mike Augliera joined Calderone on the all-tournament team. In the title game, Dennis stifled Albany on four hits through seven innings with nine strikeouts. The day prior, Augliera was clutch out of the bullpen, allowing just one earned run in 5.1 innings while the Bearcats mounted a rally.

BU makes most out of NCAA trip to N.C.
The team then gathered with family and friends to watch the NCAA bracket unveiled live on ESPN on Memorial Day. Nationally-ranked Conference USA member East Carolina was chosen as host of the four- team Greenville Regional and fourth-seeded BU drew the Pirates in the opening round. Rain and lightning again played a role as the game was the only one of the 32 NCAA games to be pushed back to Saturday. After nerves led to three errors and seven runs allowed in the first three innings, the Bearcats settled in and battled 18th-ranked ECU tough in an 11-7 defeat. In front of 4,150 diehard baseball fans, Binghamton outhit its host 13-10 but hit into three double plays and  stranded  eight runners. Joe Charron belted two home runs and Binghamton's offense knocked out ECU's undefeated first team all- conference pitcher Chris Heston, saddling him with
his shortest outing of the season.

Because of the Friday postponement, BU had to immediately return to the field and face third-seeded George Mason in an elimination game. The Patriots were ranked 29th in the country one week earlier and boasted the second-highest win percentage of any team in the nation (42-12, .778) heading into the tournament.

The Bearcats snapped a 2-2 tie with two runs in the fourth inning, added three more in the sixth and scored seven runs over the final three innings to pull away for an 11-6 victory. It was the program's first NCAA victory and just the school's second NCAA Di- vision I tournament win in any sport. The win also marked the first time an America East team had won an NCAA game since 2005. Henry Dunn and Corey Taylor blasted home runs and Dave Ciocchi delivered a key two-out, two-run single to thwart a George Mason comeback.

Playing the team's third game in less than 24 hours, BU had ECU on the ropes in another elimination game, carrying a 7-3 lead into the fifth inning before the Bearcats' exhausted pitching staff was touched up for eight runs in the fifth. Binghamton scored twice more and totaled 11 hits in the 16-9 defeat that ended its record season. ECU wound up winning the regional and advancing to the Super Regionals.

Ciocchi (.429, 8 RBI) and Taylor (.417, 5 RBI) were selected to the regional all-tournament team.

BU grabs three major America East awards
Binghamton again garnered the most hardware of any team in the conference, winning three of the four major awards and landing five players on the all- conference teams plus two more on the all-rookie squad.

Junior ace Murphy Smith was selected as Pitcher of the Year, freshman first baseman Dave Ciocchi was named Rookie of the Year and head coach Tim Sinicki earned Coach of the Year.

Smith, who led the league in wins (7),  strikeouts (84) and ERA (3.12), was joined on the all-conference first team by senior third baseman Kyle Klee and sophomore right fielder Corey Taylor. Klee closed out his career with back-to-back first team honors and graduated third in career runs (120) and fourth in both hits (187) and RBI (117).
Taylor set the school record for RBIs in a season with 56 and tied the mark for home runs with 16. 

Ciocchi hit .381 — the second-highest season batting average in BU's Division I tenure. He had 41 RBI in 41 starts at first base and was also selected as both a Louisville Slugger and Ping! Freshman All-American two years after Henry Dunn earned the same honor. 

Freshman pitcher Mike Augliera (5-3) joined Ciocchi on the America East All-Rookie team.
 
Senior reliever Greg Lane finished his collegiate career in style, earning repeat all-conference honors and bumping his school-record saves total to 19 in three seasons at Binghamton. At the NCAA Regional, Lane pitched 1.1 innings of scoreless relief to save BU's historic victory over George Mason. He went 5-2 with seven saves in 2009, and then signed a professional contract with Sussex in the CanAm League.

Smith picked in 13th round of MLB Draft
While the Bearcats were soaking in the postseason honors, BU's pitching ace had new doors open to the professional ranks. Junior Murphy Smith was selected by the Oakland Athletics in the Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft in June. Smith was tabbed in the 13th round — the second-highest draft pick in school history. Binghamton now has produced 12 MLB draft picks or professional signees in the last four years.