VESTAL, N.Y. - Binghamton baseball (6-7) scored three runs in the eighth inning to push past visiting Lafayette (3-14) 4-1 in the team's home opener Friday afternoon at rainy Bearcats Baseball Stadium. The win was BU's sixth in their last nine games.

Tied 1-1, BU sent seven men to the plate in the decisive inning and took advantage of three singles, a walk and an error to turn back the Leopards in the first of a three-game weekend set. With one out in the eighth, sophomore third baseman Devan Bade drew a walk and junior catcher Kevin Reilly singled up the middle. Junior right fielder Tommy Reifler pulled the ball to the right side for an infield hit and the ensuing throw to second was wide, allowing Bade to score the go-ahead run. Junior shortstop Isaiah Corry followed with a sacrifice fly to center, scoring Reilly for a 3-1 lead. Senior left fielder Cavan Tully capped the scoring with an RBI single to left field. 

Senior closer Jack Collins worked a scoreless ninth for his second save of the season.

Reifler went 3-for-4 with two doubles to lift his season batting average to .405. Tully was on base four times with two hits and a pair of walks. Tully also started a key defensive play in the second inning when he tracked down a double to the wall and with a runner headed home, relayed to Corry and then home to Reilly for the collision and put-out at the plate to end the inning (photo above). 

Each team left double-digit runners stranded to keep this a low-scoring affair. 

Senior left-hander Thomas Babalis scattered five hits and one run in 6.0 innings. He struck out a season-high seven before yielding to junior John Lumpinski (W, 1-0), who pitched two scoreless innings.

The Bearcats went ahead 1-0 in the third inning on a bases-loaded RBI walk by sophomore second baseman Nick Roselli. Binghamton missed several chances to extend that lead after leaving the bases loaded in the third and fifth innings. Lafayette scored its lone run in the fifth, thanks to a pair of two-out hits.

Binghamton put its first two hitters on in the fifth, seventh and eighth innings. 

The teams return Saturday for a pair of nine-inning games, beginning at noon.