STANFORD, Calif. - Region host and nationally No. 2 ranked Stanford (42-14) showed its championship pedigree with a 20-7 win over fourth-seeded Binghamton (22-29) in the opening game of the NCAA Regional Friday afternoon at Sunken Diamond. The Cardinal exploded for 10 runs in the second inning and withstood a persistent offensive push from the Bearcats, who will now move into an elimination game at 4 p.m. (ET) Saturday against third-seeded and 20th-ranked UC Santa Barbara (43-13), which lost 7-3 to second-seeded Texas State. 

The Bearcats collected three hits in the first inning, took a 1-0 lead and nearly forced an early Stanford pitching change, before a bases-loaded double play aided the hosts' No. 2 starter. 

Stanford responded, however, with 10 runs on nine hits in the second inning to take command of the game. 

Despite facing a 10-1 deficit, Binghamton continued its offensive charge by putting the leadoff runner on in five of the first six innings and loaded the bases four times in the first five frames. The Bearcats plated runs in four of the first five innings but without an extra-base hit, left some opportunities on the table and stranded 11 runners for the game - nine of which were left in the first six innings. BU did score single runs in the third and fourth innings and when they scored three times in the top of the fifth, the margin was trimmed to 10-6. In that fifth, BU had two runners in scoring position and was a single away from making it a 10-8 game.  

But the Cardinal fired up their offense again and outscored the Bearcats 10-1 the rest of the way for the final margin. Binghamton totaled 15 hits - the most in the program's 10 NCAA Regional games dating back to 2009 - and worked their way through four Stanford pitchers, producing the most runs the Cardinal have ever given up to a No. 4 seed in their storied NCAA history.

"We found out pretty quickly why they are the No. 2 team in the country," head coach Tim Sinicki said. "Even when we made good pitches they were able to find some grass. It's obviously very difficult to come back from a hole like that but I thought we did a good job scratching and clawing to make it 10-6. Eventually our bullpen couldn't keep us right there. But that's an impressive ballclub we just played. At the same time I'm proud of our guys ... we competed right to the very end and we'll be back tomorrow to play another ball game." 

Freshman second baseman Nick Roselli led the BU offense with a 4-for-5 showing. Roselli capped his day with a solo home run in the eighth inning - a big blast that cleared the right field wall by plenty. It was his seventh home run of the season. Freshman catcher Evin Sullivan went 3-for-5 with an RBI and classmate Logan Haskell had two hits. Sullivan's run driven in gives him an RBI in nine straight games - the third-longest such streak in program history.

Binghamton's freshmen accounted for 10 of the team's 15 hits - an indication of the bright future of the program. The Bearcats are the youngest team at the Regional, with four starting freshmen and six underclassmen in all in the lineup. 

Junior left fielder Cavan Tully had two hits and scored two runs and senior right fielder Colin Mason had a team-high two RBI. Senior shortstop Jake Evans had an RBI single in the fifth inning to extend his school-record hit streak to 24 games. 

With the victory, Stanford extended its win streak to 17 games. The Cardinal have won 20 of their last 22 games. 

NOTES
Roselli became the fifth Bearcat to hit a home run at an NCAA Regional, joining former BU standouts Joe Charron (2 HR), Henry Dunn, Corey Taylor and Peter Bregartner, who all did it at the 2009 NCAA Greenville Regional ... Roselli also tied BU's record for most hits in an NCAA game, set by Zach Blanden (4-for-5) in 2013 ... the Stanford Regional is the only regional out of the 16 that features three teams with 40 or more wins.