ORONO, Maine - Second-seeded Binghamton (20-28) exploded in a record-setting offensive performance and advanced in the winner's bracket of the America East tournament with a 20-5 win over third-seeded NJIT (24-26) Thursday afternoon at Mahaney Diamond. With the lopsided win, BU is within two victories of claiming the program's fifth conference title. The Bearcats next face No. 4 UMass Lowell at 11 a.m. Friday.

Binghamton scored eight runs in the first three innings to set a torrid scoring pace and wound up with the most runs any team has scored in the last 21 years of America East tournament play. The Bearcats also set school postseason records for runs, hits (22), doubles (9) and winning margin (15). 

The game began with pitching and defense, however. Junior starter Thomas Babalis notched a strikeout in a scoreless top of the first and was aided when sophomore first baseman Andrew Tan made a diving catch on a foul ball to end the frame. In the bottom of the first, BU wasted no time in busting out the bats. With one out, freshman center fielder Logan Haskell doubled to the wall in left center and two batters later, freshman DH Evin Sullivan plated him with an RBI double off the wall in right center. Sophomore catcher Kevin Reilly (4-for-5, 6 RBI) began a huge day with a two-run home run over the wall in right center to make it 3-0. The blast was Reilly's fifth of the season.

Babalis (W, 4-6) fanned three in the second inning and stranded two in the process. He wound up pitching six innings and allowing just one run through five while BU's offense was piling up the runs.

The Bearcats added two runs in the second and three in the third to build an 8-0 cushion. Then BU batted around and tacked on six runs on six hits in the fifth inning. After that, a three-spot in each of the sixth and eighth innings completed the onslaught. 

With his six RBI, Reilly set a BU postseason record, eclipsing the previous mark of four held by three different players. After his home run in the first, he added a two-run single in the fifth and a two-run double in the eighth. 

Senior shortstop Jake Evans went 3-for-4 with a double and two RBI and in the process, tied the school record by extending his hit streak to 21 games. Evans now shares the mark with Joe Charron (2010). He also raised his season average to .381 - second-highest in the America East. Sullivan finished 3-for-4 with two doubles and four RBI. Haskell had two doubles, three hits and three RBI. Tan also had two doubles, three hits and three RBI. 

Babalis wound up with nine strikeouts to bring his season total to 85 - fourth-most in BU history. Sophomore reliever Kyle Eskildsen tossed the final three innings and earned his first save of the season. He struck out four. 

On Friday morning, the Bearcats will face a River Hawks team that upset top-seeded Maine 9-7 in the day's first game. When BU and UML met back on March 25-27 in Lowell, the River Hawks won two of three. Binghamton won the opener 4-0 before Lowell took the final two games 4-3 and 4-1. The all-time series between the two programs is even at 15-15, though BU has won nine of the last 14. A win Friday morning would advance the Bearcats into Saturday's championship round, where they would have to win just one game in two tries to capture the America East title and seize the accompanying NCAA bid. A loss Friday morning would send BU into the 6 p.m. elimination game against the winner of the Maine-NJIT 2:30 contest.  

NOTE
The previous BU postseason records for runs (18), hits (21) and scoring margin (14) were set in an 18-4 win over Albany in the 2019 America East tournament, hosted by Binghamton ... the team's previous record for postseason doubles was five.