VESTAL, N.Y. - Senior DH
Christian Perez lashed an RBI single to left center in the bottom of the ninth to complete a 10-run uprising and give Binghamton baseball (8-13) an improbable 11-10 walkoff win over visiting Canisius (6-13) Tuesday afternoon at the Bearcats Baseball Stadium.
In a battle of 2022 NCAA tournament teams, BU scored the game's final 10 runs to produce the team's third walkoff win of the spring.
The Bearcats trailed 10-1 after 4 1/2 innings before mounting their comeback. Binghamton scored four runs in the bottom of the fifth inning, tied the game with five runs in the eighth and won it in the ninth. In their final at-bat, BU got its leadoff hitter on when senior third baseman
Isaiah Corry was hit-by-pitch. With one out, senior center fielder
Tommy Reifler hit a comebacker but the Canisius pitcher threw the ball into center field, allowing Corry to third. Perez then took a 3-2 pitch hard into center to plate Corry with the winning run.
The game-winning hit capped a 3-for-5, 3-RBI day for Perez, who also had an RBI single in the fifth and drew a bases-loaded walk in the eighth. Down 10-5 in the eighth, BU hitters took advantage of six consecutive walks by the Golden Griffins to score five runs on just one hit. In that frame, BU sent nine to the plate beginning with a leadoff single by sophomore shortstop
Mike Stellrecht. Successive walks and a wild pitch scored the first of five runs and made it 10-6. Three straight bases-loaded walks made it 10-9 and then the Bearcats tied the game on a one-out, RBI groundout by senior first baseman
Andrew Tan.
In the top of the ninth, senior reliever
Ryan Dee worked out of a jam by snaring a hard comebacker and tossing to Tan for the out, which stranded runners on second and third. Dee (W, 1-0) was one of four BU relievers who combined to work 5.1 scoreless innings after the initial Canisius barrage. Junior
Caden Rothbaum (1.0 IP), freshmen
Trey Sajeski (1.2) and
Conner Griffin (1.2) and Dee (1.0) each kept the Griffs off the board, setting the stage for a BU comeback.
The Perez single in the fifth made it 10-2 but the big blow that brought the Bearcats back into the contest was delivered by senior catcher
Kevin Reilly. With Perez and junior left fielder
Logan Haskell (single) on base, Reilly sent a 1-0 pitch over the wall in center field for a 3-run shot that made it 10-5. It was Reilly's first home run of the season.
Reilly wound up with four RBI and senior right fielder
Mike Gunning added two hits, including his team-leading eighth home run (tied for most in America East). It was a solo shot in the fourth inning that carried over the left field wall.
Binghamton next travels to Murfreesboro, Tenn. for a three-game set against Middle Tennessee State beginning on Thursday.
NOTE
The win was BU's third via walkoff this spring - all in the last three weeks. The others were against St. Bonaventure on March 7 (8-7 in 10 inn.) and NJIT on March 16 (7-5).
