ALBANY, N.Y. – Binghamton baseball (26-19, 15-6 America East) split a doubleheader at UAlbany (14-30, 9-12 AE) Sunday afternoon, winning the opener 3-1 before dropping the nightcap 11-9 at Varsity Field.
The split, combined with other conference results gave the Bearcats at least a share of the America East regular season title and guaranteed the No. 1 seed for the upcoming conference tournament, which Binghamton will host May 20-23. The regular season title is the program's seventh overall and first since 2017. With one more win in its final series next weekend, Binghamton will win the title outright.
In the opener, freshman
Mason Holloway outdueled Albany's first team all-conference pitcher, working 5.2 innings and allowing just one run on five hits. Sophomore
Aiden Milburn came in with the tying runs on in the sixth and got a fly ball to end the threat. He worked a scoreless seventh and the Bearcats completed a 5-4-3 double play to end it.
Binghamton did all its scoring in the second inning. Sophomore DH
Tommy Popoff (2-for-2) led off with a single and senior left fielder
Zack Kent followed with a double inside the third base bag. Sophomore first baseman
Steven Kraus scored both with a two-run single up the middle. Then with two outs, sophomore third baseman
Tim Hennig ripped an RBI triple to right center, making it 3-0.
In Game 2, the Bearcats led 9-7 before UAlbany plated four decisive runs in the bottom of the eighth inning. Each team had 12 hits and the game see-sawed back and forth throughout. Binghamton led 3-0 before the Great Danes scored seven straight runs to take a 7-3 lead. The Bearcats countered with five runs in the fifth and added another in the sixth to pull ahead 9-7. But UAlbany scored four runs on five hits in the eighth to steal the win.
Popoff sparked the middle-inning rally with a 3-run home run in the fifth as the Bearcats batted around and scored five. It was his sixth homer of the season. Sophomore center fielder
Matt Bolton went 3-for-4 with a double and triple and Kent went 3-for-4 with a triple and RBI. Kraus added two RBI.
Junior reliever
Brady Bouchard worked 3.1 scoreless innings.
Binghamton closes its regular season with a three-game set at UMass Lowell beginning Thursday night.
