VESTAL, N.Y. - Sixth-seeded host Binghamton baseball (21-29) fell behind 5-0 after three innings and couldn't rally in a 5-2 season-ending loss to No. 3 NJIT (25-26) Thursday afternoon at Bearcats Baseball Stadium. 

It's the first time in program history Binghamton has been eliminated in one game in the tournament. The Bearcats are hosting the six-team event for the second straight year and the first two games are single elimination. Despite putting the tying run on base or at the plate in four of the final five innings, Binghamton was denied a game-changing hit and also denied a third straight tournament win over the Highlanders.

Freshman outfielder Todd Abraham went 3-for-4 with an RBI, junior third baseman Devan Bade hit a long solo home run and went 2-for-4 and senior reliever Nelson Berkwich worked 5.1 strong innings. 

The Bearcats put nine combined runners on base in the fifth, seventh, eighth and ninth innings but only produced one run. 

Berkwich scattered four hits and one run with three strikeouts in his first relief appearance of the season. 

Down 5-0, Binghamton scored single runs in the fourth and fifth innings. In the fourth, Bade led off with a deep blast to dead center for his sixth home run of the season. The ball banked halfway up the batter's eye, well over 400 feet. In the fifth, the Bearcats put their first two hitters on with a leadoff walk by junior DH Evin Sullivan and a single by sophomore shortstop Mike Stellrecht. Abrahman followed with an RBI double to right center. But with runners on second and third, back-to-back strikeouts and an outfield pop-up left both in scoring position. 

Binghamton then loaded the bases with one out in the seventh but a pop-up and groundout ended the threat. The Bearcats put their first two on again in the eighth before a strikeout, flyout and pop-up stranded both. In the ninth, Binghamton mounted one final mini-rally after back-to-back singles by junior second baseman Nick Roselli and Bade. But an outfield fly ended the game and the season.

The Bearcats played the game without two starting outfielders (Tommy Reifler, Logan Haskell) and the first two hitters in the lineup. The injuries further encapsulated a season that was defined by a school-record 77 man-games lost to injury by the starting lineup. In addition, injuries to starting pitchers tacked on another nine missed games.