ORONO, Maine - Graduate first baseman Freddy Forgione and junior second baseman Zack Kent each belted two home runs and drove in five runs to spearhead a 15-run offensive attack that carried No. 3 Binghamton (27-23) to a 15-10 win over No. 2 NJIT (27-25) in the second round of the Delta Dental America East Baseball Championship, hosted by Maine Wednesday night at Mahaney Diamond.

Now 2-0 in the tournament, the Bearcats advance to Friday's winners' bracket game against No. 5 UAlbany. Game time is TBA depending on the weather, which will feature steady rain throughout the day. Binghamton is halfway to the conference title and has won five of its last six games. The Bearcats also have won five straight tournament games at Mahaney Diamond, where they captured the 2022 America East title. 

This game featured a barrage of hitting as the teams combined for 30 hits and 25 runs. There were seven combined home runs - four by the Bearcats as Forgione and Kent delivered two each. Binghamton, which scored 14 runs in Wednesday's 14-8 tournament-opening win over UMBC, is averaging 11.6 runs of offense over its last five games.  

Binghamton never trailed, although NJIT scored in six of the first seven innings to remain within striking distance all afternoon. The Bearcats jumped on top with a five-run first inning - four crossing on a grand slam by Kent. But the Highlanders countered with one run in the first, two in the third and one in the fourth to pull within one, 5-4. Then in the fifth and sixth innings, the teams combined for 12 runs. Binghamton scored twice in the fifth and five times in the sixth - but NJIT answered with a run in the fifth and four in the sixth to draw within three, 12-9. When NJIT scored once in the seventh, it was a 12-10 game. 

But Binghamton scored three insurance runs in the ninth and kept NJIT off the board over the final two innings to hang on for the victory. 

Kent's first-inning blast gave Bing a grand slam for the second straight game. He launched a first-pitch offering over the wall in left center to give the Bearcats a 5-0 lead. The Bearcats were kept off the board for the next three innings before Forgione took his turn in the fifth. After a 1-out walk by senior catcher Evin Sullivan, Forgione jumped on a 2-2 pitch and sent it out for a 7-4 lead. 

In the sixth, the Bearcats began a two-out rally when freshman center fielder Matt Bolton (5-for-6) singled and senior right fielder followed with a single. Senior third baseman Devan Bade delivered an RBI single through the left side for an 8-5 lead and Sullivan then ripped a 3-2 pitch to the wall for a two-run double and a 10-5 lead. Forgione capped the five-run uprising with another 2-run home run - his team- and conference-high 13th of the season. 

But NJIT drew within two, 12-10, and brought the tying run to the plate in the seventh before sophomore reliever Ben Griffith notched a key strikeout and fly out to end the frame. 

In the eighth inning, Bolton chased down a long ball near the wall in dead center for a big first out. Rogacki followed with a nice running catch and Griffith worked a 1-2-3 inning. After the Bearcats backed on their final three runs, senior Chris Sleeper pitched a 1-2-3 ninth to close it out. 

Bolton tied a Binghamton tournament record with his five hits. He also raised his season total to 71 hits, seventh-most in program history. Rogacki went 2-for-4 with an RBI on a squeeze bunt in the ninth.