BINGHAMTON, N.Y. – Binghamton pitchers tossed 16 shutout innings and the Bearcats (7-7, 7-7 America East) swept a doubleheader from visiting NJIT (7-17, 7-13 AE), winning 1-0 and 2-0 Saturday afternoon at Rumbletown Stadium. It's the first time in 25 years that BU has posted a combined twinbill shutout.

In the opener, BU won it on a walk-off in the bottom of the seventh inning. Embroiled in a pitchers' duel, BU finally broke through in its final at-bat. Senior right fielder Daniel Franchi laced a double to open the inning – Binghamton's first and only hit in the entire game. Junior center fielder Shane Marshall then laid down a sacrifice bunt toward third base. The throw to first was errant, however, and as it rolled up the line in right, Franchi scampered home with the winning run.

Sophomore Thomas Babalis (W, 1-3) was masterful, shutting down the Highlanders with a complete-game five-hit shutout. Babalis scattered five singles, struck out 10 (with no walks) and lowered his season ERA to 3.42.

The Bearcats were held in check for six innings, managing just two baserunners on a walk (Franchi) and hit batter (Tommy Reifler).  

In Game 2, sophomore Ryan Bryggman (W, 1-1) tossed six shutout innings and freshman Justin Rosner earned his first collegiate save with three scoreless frames to wrap it up. Bryggman allowed six singles and struck out four. Rosner lowered his season ERA to 3.29 with his 1-hit outing.

The Bearcats scratched across one run in the third inning and another in the seventh. In the third, senior second baseman Alex Baratta doubled into the right field corner with two outs and scored on an RBI single by senior third baseman Justin Drpich.

In the seventh, sophomore DH Cavan Tully led off with a single and went to second on a Reiffler sacrifice. With one out, Franchi sent a chopper over the mound that evaded both middle infielders, allowing Tully to score an unearned run.

In the eighth, NJIT drew a leadoff walk but with one out, Rosner induced a 4-6-3 double play to end the threat. One inning earlier, BU completed a double play from the outfield. With a runner on second, Marshall caught a fly in deep center and threw back to second, where a Highlanders' runner had tagged and gone to third. But he left early and the ensuing double play ended that uprising. 

Earlier in the game, Franchi provided another in a long list of career defensive gems when he tracked a fly going toward the right field wall, dove and extended to make the catch at the warning track. Bryggman wound up stranding two that inning, left the bases loaded in the fourth and after he settled in, retired eight in a row at one point. 

Marshall went 2-for-4 to key BU's modest six-hit attack. Both teams stranded nine baserunners.

The teams finish out the series with a doubleheader Sunday at Rumbletown Stadium.

NOTE
The last time BU swept a doubleheader with back-to-back shutouts was as a Division III program when they defeated Marywood by scores of 9-0 and 4-0 on May 1, 1996