COLUMBIA, Mo. - Redshirt freshman reliever
Ben Griffith pitched three scoreless innings and senior third baseman
Devan Bade drove in the winning run with a two-out single in the 13th inning as Binghamton baseball (4-6) upset SEC member Missouri (6-7) 8-7 Friday night at Taylor Stadium. The Tigers play in the nation's elite baseball conference, one that boasts 10 of the top-20 teams.
Eight different Bearcats had hits or RBIs in the dramatic series opener, which featured a handful of game-saving defensive gems, explosive offense and shut-down relief pitching. .
After three scoreless extra frames, the Bearcats struck with two out in the top of the 13th. Senior left fielder
Logan Haskell drew a walk and freshman center fielder
Matt Bolton followed with a single. With runners on first and third, senior third baseman
Devan Bade delivered an RBI single up the middle to score Haskell with the go-ahead run, 8-7.
In the bottom of the inning, Griffith (W, 1-0) faced the heart of the Tigers' lineup (2-3-4). He got a pair of groundouts, gave up a walk and then closed it with a fly to center. He allowed just two hits and struck out a pair to post his first collegiate win. Griffith and his preceding relievers
Hayden Tarsia (2.1 IP, 1 run) and
Jackson Mitchell (3.0 IP, 1 run) combined to limit Missouri to just two runs over the final 8.1 innings. In all, Binghamton kept Missouri off the board in 10 of 13 innings.
Bolton had three hits and turned in a spectacular over-the-head coach in deep center that ended the bottom of the 10th and kept the game tied. With the game-winning run on first, Bolton tracked down a deep ball and on a dead run, made a remarkable basket catch on the warning track to save the game. Two innings later, his classmate and right field neighbor
Sam Miller (two hits, RBI) produced his own defensive gem. With the Mizzou winning run on second in the bottom of the 12th, Miller charged a single and threw home on a hop. Senior catcher
Zach Rogacki (2 hits, 2 RBI) applied the tag to cut down the runner and preserve the tie. Rogacki had two of his own key plays with a pair of caught-stealing throws in the third and seventh innings.
Missouri opened the scoring with a run in the third. Binghamton countered with two runs in the fourth. Haskell led off with a triple and four batters later, graduate first baseman
Freddy Forgione (3-for-4, 2 RBI) came through with a two-out RBI single. Rogacki followed with an RBI single to give the Bearcats a 2-1 lead. The Tigers countered with five runs in the fifth to jump ahead 6-2. But Binghamton rallied to tie it with four runs in the sixth. In that frame, Forgione, Rogacki, junior shortstop
Mike Stellrecht and Miller contributed RBIs.
The teams traded runs in the eighth inning with Haskell's RBI giving Binghamton an 8-7 lead before the Tigers forced extra innings with their final run.
Binghamton and Missouri will play a doubleheader Saturday beginning at 2 p.m.
NOTES
The win was Binghamton's third all-time against an SEC member. The Bearcats beat Tennessee in 2010 and Auburn in 2015 ... the program's last win against a Power 4 team came in 2017, when the Bearcats swept a four-game series at No. 19 Virginia Tech and then toppled Penn State
