VESTAL, N.Y. - Binghamton baseball scored eight runs in the sixth inning to erase a 2-0 deficit and the Bearcats (9-9) rolled past Siena (3-14) 11-6 Friday afternoon at Bearcats Baseball Complex. The win was Binghamton's fifth in its last six games.
Down 2-0, Binghamton erupted in the decisive sixth after being held to just one hit through the first five innings.
In the sixth, the Bearcats sent 12 men to the plate and took advantage of three walks, four hits and two long balls from senior left fielder
Logan Haskell (5 RBI). Haskell led off the inning with a solo home run to left on a 3-2 pitch. A hit batter and two walks then set the stage for freshman pinch-hitter
Tommy Popoff, who drilled a 2-run double to the wall in right center to give the Bearcats a 3-2 lead. Four hitters later, freshman center fielder
Matt Bolton continued his torrid collegiate start with a 2-out, 2-run single to center. Haskell then came up for the second time in the inning and launched a 1-1 pitch over the wall in left for a 3-run home run and an 8-2 Bearcats lead.
In the seventh, Binghamton tacked on three more runs as Siena pitchers issued three more walks and another hit batter. Junior shortstop
Mike Stellrecht collected an RBI single and sophomore second baseman
Todd Abraham and Haskell added bases-loaded walks.
Binghamton condensed its scoring into those two innings and the Bearcats were actually outhit by Siena, 9-7. The Saints hit two home runs in the ninth and scored four times to tighten the final margin. The teams combined to use 45 players in the three-hour game.
Haskell drove in five runs. Popoff and Bolton had two RBIs apiece.
The Bearcats, who entered the game ranked No. 7 in the nation in fielding (.985), turned two double plays to keep their early-inning deficit manageable. Siena scored single runs in the first and fourth innings but had nothing else until the ninth.
The Bearcats now turn their attention to the conference-opening series this weekend against visiting Maine. It will be a rematch of the 2022 (Binghamton) and 2023 (Maine) conference champions.
UHS Sports Medicine is the presenting sponsor of Bearcats' baseball.
