VESTAL, N.Y. - Senior first baseman Kevin Gsell belted a two-out, two-run, walkoff home run in the bottom of the seventh inning to give Binghamton baseball (22-16, 8-7 America East) a 5-4 win over UMBC (21-19, 10-7 AE) in the opening game of a doubleheader Saturday afternoon at the Bearcats Baseball Complex. The Retrievers countered with a 7-6 win in the nightcap to split the DH and win the series.

With the split, BU sits in fourth place in the standings with nine games remaining in the regular season, but is just 1.5 games out of second. Five of the team's seven conference losses have come by just one run

In Game 1, BU let a 3-0 lead slip away before rallying for the win in its final at-bat. UMBC scored single runs in the fifth and sixth innings and took a 4-3 lead with two unearned runs in the top of the seventh. But in the bottom of the frame, junior center fielder Tommy Reifler drew a one-out walk and two batters later, Gsell jumped on a 1-1 pitch and drove it well over the left field wall for his fifth homer of the season. 

Sophomore second baseman Nick Roselli got the Bearcats on the board early with a two-run double in the first inning. Reifler added a sacrifice fly in the second inning as BU jumped to a 3-0 lead. But the BU bats were held in check over the next four innings and UMBC came within one out of stealing the win before Gsell's blast. 

Junior starter Gabe Driscoll scattered four hits and two runs over 5.2 innings in a no-decision.  

In Game 2, the Bearcats nearly rallied from a 7-2 hole but left the tying run on third base after scoring four runs in the bottom of the ninth. Binghamton sent nine to the plate in the ninth and used RBIs by freshman shortstop Mike Stellrecht, senior left fielder Cavan Tully, Reifler and Roselli to put themselves on the verge of a second-straight walkoff win. But with two outs and runners on first and third, an infield pop-up ended it one hit short.

Reifler collected two more hits to lift his team-high average to .402 (#2 in America East). Roselli had two hits and finished the weekend series 6-for-13 with two home runs and six RBI. Roselli has 43 RBI, third-most in the conference. Sophomore catcher Evin Sullivan hit a two-run home run that tied the game at 2-2 in the fourth. It was his first of the season and signaled his return to form after missing the first seven weeks of the season with an injury. 

Binghamton stays at home to host Cornell in a non-conference game Tuesday night. 

NOTES
Before the game, BU recognized its 11 seniors: director of analytics Sean Coveny and players Thomas Babalis, Tanner Beang, Ryan Bryggman, Jack Collins, Kyle Eskildsen, Kevin Gsell, Tanner Sinicki, Tommy Snyder, Zachary Taylor and Cavan Tully.