VESTAL, N.Y. - Freshman shortstop Mike Stellrecht provided the go-ahead hit in the seventh inning and junior reliever Alex Henderson struck out the league's leading hitter with the tying run on base in the eighth as Binghamton baseball (19-12, 6-3 America East) outlasted visiting Maine (17-12, 11-1 AE) 18-17 in a wild series finale Sunday afternoon. 

Trailing 16-14 in the seventh, BU struck four four runs on three hits. Stellrecht greeted the Maine reliever with a bases-loaded, two-run single to the opposite field to give the Bearcats a 17-16 edge. BU added an insurance run on an RBI groundout by senior left fielder Cavan Tully for its 18th run.

In the top of the eighth, Maine used a single and double to make it 18-17 and had formidable No. 3 hitter Jeremiah Jenkins at the plate when Henderson (W, 1-0) showed his mettle with a strikeout on a 3-2 pitch. A foul pop-out ended the threat. In the ninth, senior all-conference closer Jack Collins worked around a two-out single and struck out the final hitter to nail down his sixth save of the season. 

The teams combined for 35 runs on 37 hits - 11 of them extra-base. There were seven lead changes and the only inning that didn't yield at least one run was the ninth (top half). Each team scored in five innings. 

The offensive numbers were aplenty. Stellrecht wound up with a two-hit, three-RBI showing after replacing starting shortstop Isaiah Corry, who departed in the first inning with an injury. Junior center fielder Tommy Reifler went 2-for-3 with three RBI and three runs scored. Reifler raised his batting average to .391, third-highest in the conference. Sophomore second baseman Nick Roselli went 3-for-6 with two RBI and junior right fielder Mike Gunning drove in three. Roselli bumped his team-leading RBI count to 33 (3rd in America East). Tully and sophomore catcher Evin Sullivan drove in two runs apiece.

The Bearcats erased a 3-0 Maine lead with five runs in the bottom of the first inning - the beginning of the see-saw affair. Maine reclaimed the lead with three runs in the second. BU tied it with a run in the thir but Maine put three on the board in the fourth. The Bearcats answered with six runs on three hits in the fifth. Binghamton battled around, took advantage of two bases-loaded walks and received a two-run single from Roselli to key the uprising. Maine, however, used a two-out grand slam to plate six and reclaim the lead, 16-12.

But BU scored twice in the sixth on a two-out double to the left center wall by Gunning, making it 16-14. And then in the deciding seventh, scored four to provide the final lead change.

Binghamton heads to Ithaca to face Cornell on Tuesday.