LOWELL, Mass. – Visiting Binghamton baseball (27-20, 16-7 America East) split a doubleheader with UMass Lowell (20-28, 10-13 AE) Saturday night at Le Lacheur Park. The Bearcats won the opener 8-4 before dropping the nightcap by the same 8-4 score.
With the win in Game 1, Binghamton secured the outright America East regular season title – the program's seventh all-time and first since 2017. The Bearcats had already clinched the No. 1 seed for the upcoming America East tournament, which they will host beginning Wednesday.
In the seven-inning opener, the Bearcats trailed 4-1 before batting around and scoring seven runs in the sixth inning. River Hawk pitchers helped by issuing five walks and a hit batter – four of which brought in bases-loaded runs.
Senior shortstop
Mike Stellrecht went 3-for-3 with an RBI and sophomore center fielder
Matt Bolton had two hits and an RBI. Juniors
Brady Bouchard (W, 2-3) and
Jake Dally pitched the final four scoreless innings to keep UML in check.
Binghamton led 1-0 with a run in the second before UML countered with its four runs in the bottom of the frame. The teams played five scoreless innings, with the Bearcats' seven-run outburst deciding the game.
In Game 2, the Bearcats struck out 12 times and left 11 stranded and UML scored five times in the middle innings to pull away for the split.
Trailing 2-0 after three, Binghamton plated three in the fourth inning to take its only lead of the game. After singles by senior left fielder
Zack Kent and sophomore DH
Grant Hunter, sophomore third baseman
Tim Hennig delivered a 2-out, 2-run single. Sophomore right fielder
Braylen Gonzalez followed with an RBI single to give the Bearcats a 3-2 lead.
But UML scored twice in the fourth and belted a 3-run home run in the fifth for the deciding runs. The Bearcats loaded the bases with no outs in the eighth and twice brought the tying run to the plate but were held to just one run – a Hennig RBI single.
Hennig had two hits and three RBI and Hunter added two hits.
The teams will close the regular season with a 3 p.m. finale on Saturday.
