MURFREESBORO, Tenn - Visiting Binghamton baseball (9-13) belted three home runs and rallied from a 4-0 hole with eight runs in its final three at-bats to clip Middle Tennessee (10-13) 8-4 in the series opener Thursday night at Reese Smith Jr. Field.
Blanked over the first six innings and down four runs, BU scored six runs in the seventh and added two insurance runs in the ninth to topple the Conference-USA member Blue Raiders. The rally made a winner out of senior ace
Gabe Driscoll (W, 3-3), who worked 8.1 innings and scattered eight hits and four runs. Freshman
Jackson Mitchell finished up the ninth, striking out the last MTSU hitter with a runner on second.
In the pivotal seventh, BU sent nine to the plate and hit three home runs to seize the lead. Senior first baseman
Andrew Tan led off with a single and sophomore shortstop
Mike Stellrecht followed with a 2-run home run to get the Bearcats on the board, down 4-2. Stellrecht rode a 1-0 pitch over the wall in left for his first homer of the season. With one out, freshman second baseman
Jake Dally singled and two batters later, pinch-hitter
Conner Griffin launched his first collegiate home run - a two-run shot that tied the game. Griffin jumped on the first pitch he saw and sent it over the wall in left. Junior left fielder
Logan Haskell then delivered a triple to left center and scampered home after a wild pitch with the go-ahead run. Up 5-4, junior catcher
Evin Sullivan completed the six-run uprising with a solo home run - his first of the season.
In the ninth, BU added two final runs on two hits and two walks. Senior center fielder
Tommy Reifler and Griffin worked back-to-back walks and with two out, Sullivan singled through the left side to bring home a run and senior right fielder
Mike Gunning followed with an RBI single to complete the scoring.
Driscoll set down MTSU in order in the first, second, seventh and eighth innings and only allowed four hits and one run over the final six frames.
Sullivan went 3-for-5 with an RBI, Stellrecht went 2-for-3 with 2 RBI and Griffin plated two as well. Haskell and Tan collected two hits apiece and Gunning notched his team-leading 20th RBI.
Sophomore
Ryan Bates gets the ball for tomorrow's 5 p.m. (ET) game.
