VESTAL, N.Y. - Visiting Maine (16-26, 10-6 America East) belted four home runs and pulled away from Binghamton baseball (23-17, 12-4 AE) 9-2 Friday afternoon in the series opener between the top two teams in the conference.
The Black Bears snapped a 1-1 tie with five runs in the middle innings and the Bearcats' offense couldn't keep up on a day it was limited to six hits - one each by six different players.
Sophomore first baseman
Steven Kraus hit a second-inning home run to tie game at 1-1. The blast on a 1-0 pitch was his fifth of the season.
But Maine scored one run in the fourth, three in the fifth and another in the sixth to jump ahead 6-1. The Black Bears added two more runs in the eighth and a final run in the ninth before Binghamton used three walks and a hit batter to score a closing run in the ninth.
With the loss, Binghamton saw its lead atop the America East trimmed to two games over Maine with eight remaining in the conference slate.
The teams continue the weekend series with a 2 p.m. start on Saturday. Pregame, the Bearcats will honor seniors
Colin Rhein,
Ryan Bates,
Mike Stellrecht,
Zack Kent and
Dan McAliney, along with analytics coordinator Ethan Halper.
