VESTAL, N.Y. - In the team's home opener on a sunny Tuesday afternoon at the Bearcats Baseball Complex, Binghamton baseball walked off St. Bonaventure 7-6 on a wild pitch in the bottom of the ninth inning.
After the Bonnies tied it with three runs in the top of the frame, the Bearcats pushed across the game-winner in the bottom. Freshman right fielder
Sam Miller led off with a walk and moved to third on successive sacrifice bunts by junior shortstop
Mike Stellrecht and pinch hitter
Todd Abraham. A fielding error cost St. Bonaventure an out, and then with freshman center fielder
Matt Bolton at the plate, the Bonnies' pitcher uncorked a pitch to the backstop, allowing Miller to score easily with the winning run.
The Bearcats scored in every other inning, plating runs in the first, third, fifth, seventh and ninth innings.
Senior third baseman
Devan Bade went 4-for-5, junior second baseman
Zack Kent belted a two-run home run, graduate first baseman
Freddy Forgione hit a solo shot and senior DH
Evin Sullivan added two RBIs as the Bearcats won their second straight and third in the last five after splitting a series at SEC member Missouri over the weekend.
Seven Binghamton pitchers saw action, with freshman
Brady Lesiak working 2.1 scoreless middle innings. Lesiak struck out two and induced double play grounders in the fourth and fifth innings to aid his cause. Redshirt freshman
Ben Griffith fanned two in his scoreless eighth inning.
Down 1-0 after the Bonnies hit a leadoff home run to open the game, Binghamton quickly responded. Bolton singled to lead off the bottom of the first and Kent followed with his first home run as a Bearcat - a deep drive to left center for a two-run shot.
Sullivan gave the Bearcats a 3-2 lead with a two-out RBI single in the third inning. In the fifth, Binghamton extended its lead with two runs on three hits. With one out, Bade sent a double to right field and Sullivan plated him with an RBI single through the left side. Senior catcher
Zach Rogacki made it 5-2 with an RBI single.
St. Bonaventure got one run back in the sixth but Binghamton countered with a run in the seventh on the Forgione leadoff home run that threatened the scoreboard beyond right center.
Cruising up 6-3 in the ninth, Binghamton surrendered three runs on three hits, including a game-tying 2-run home run with two out.
Binghamton continues its eight-game homestand with a weekend series against Holy Cross beginning Friday afternoon.
