VESTAL, N.Y. - Freshman Dan McAliney and graduate Kyle Eskildsen combined to stymie No. 2 UMBC (30-27) on six hits over eight shutout innings and third-seeded Binghamton baseball (29-22) kept its season going with a 7-1 win in an America East tournament elimination game Friday night at the Bearcats Baseball Complex. The game drew 1,046 fans and was BU's third lopsided win in four tournament games. 

With the win, BU advances to the championship round for the third time in four years and will face No. 1 Maine at 1 p.m. The Bearcats have to beat the Black Bears twice to claim a second straight conference title.

Binghamton snapped a 1-1 tie with runs in four straight middle innings and after McAliney went 4.0 and allowed just two hits and a run, Eskildsen (W, 3-1) was equally stingy. He worked 5.0 shutout innings and scattered four hits. Meanwhile, the Bearcats collected 14 hits, including two home runs and three doubles.  

Graduate DH Zachary Taylor went 3-for-4 with a home run and a double, senior first baseman Kevin Gsell had two hits and two RBI and the top three hitters in Cavan Tully, Tommy Reifler and Nick Roselli combined for six hits and five runs scored. Sophomore third baseman Devan Bade went 3-for-5. 

In the fifth inning, BU took a lead it would not relinquish when Reifler singled with one out, reached second on a UMBC failed exchange at the second base bag, moved to third on a wild pitch and scored on a Gsell sacrifice fly to give the Bearcats a 2-1 lead. 

In the sixth, Taylor struck for his first home run of the season - a two-out, two-strike blast over the wall in left field. Then in the seventh, Tully led off with a home run - his fourth of the season - to give BU a 4-1 lead. Later in the seventh, junior right fielder Mike Gunning added an RBI groundout. Then in the eighth, Reifler and Roselli came through with additional insurance runs after clutch, two-out hits. 

Playing the team's fourth game in three days and working with limited pitching availability, the Bearcats put in an exceptional performance on the mound, at the plate and in the field, where they finished off a second-straight error-free game.