ATHENS, Ga. – In its first NCAA tournament game in three years, the Binghamton baseball team was defeated by No. 7 seed Georgia 20-4 Friday in the opener of the Athens Regional at Foley Field.
Logan Haskell led the Bearcats with two doubles and one RBI, while
Zach Rogacki added two singles and one RBI.
Matt Bolton also drove in a run with an RBI single. However, Georgia got to Binghamton starting pitcher
Brady Bouchard by scoring eight runs against the freshman, six of which came from a pair of three-run home runs by Daniel Jackson.
"Proud of the way our kids competed," said Binghamton Head Baseball Coach
Tim Sinicki. "[They] didn't quit until the last out was made, and that's kind of the way we try to run our program."
Georgia jumped out to a 5-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning thanks to a two-run home run by Tre Phelps and Jackson's first homer. The Bearcats were able to keep the Bulldogs off the scoreboard in the second thanks in part to a strikeout by Bouchard and a diving stop at third base by
Devan Bade to throw out a runner at second.
Binghamton closed the gap in the top of the third.
Logan Haskell led off with a double to put himself in scoring position. Then with two outs,
Matt Bolton singled to center field to bring home Haskell for the Bearcats' first run of the day. With Bolton having advanced to second on a throw during that play, he then came around and scored on a single by Rogacki to make it a 5-2 deficit.
Georgia responded with another three-run homer by Jackson in the bottom of the third, knocking Bouchard out of the game. The Bulldogs then put up another four runs in the fourth off
Ben Griffith to extend their lead to 12-2. Georgia went on to add a combined eight more runs throughout the remainder of the game against
Brady Lesiak,
Chris Sleeper and
Ian Kaiser. Binghamton put up two runs in the top of the ninth thanks to RBI doubles from Haskell and
Mike Stellrecht before Georgia secured the victory.
Binghamton plays Oklahoma State in an elimination game on Saturday at noon.
NOTES
This is the second time this season that Haskell has hit two doubles in one game. The other instance came on May 16, when he also recorded two doubles in Binghamton's thrilling 15-14 come-from-behind victory over UAlbany, the same game where he hit a walk-off three-run home run…Rogacki has picked up at least two hits in four of his last six games while also extending his hitting streak to six games. The streak dates back to the start of the Northeast Delta Dental America East Baseball Championship against UMBC on May 21…With his RBI single, Bolton also extended his hitting streak to five games.
