Box Score (Game 1)
Box Score (Game 2)
VESTAL, NY—Host Binghamton came from behind to defeat NJIT in the opening game of Saturday's baseball doubleheader and then the Bearcats rolled to a big win in the nightcap to complete a sweep of the visiting Highlanders.
The Bearcats, who trailed the opener, 2-1, heading to the bottom of the fourth inning, came back for an 8-2 win in that game and then took a 25-1 victory in the nightcap.
Binghamton, a perennial contender in the America East Conference, has won the last two conference regular season titles and is second in this year's standings with an 8-2 conference mark, so the Highlanders knew they faced a formidable test before a pitch was thrown.
NJIT, behind sophomore RHP Steven Ace, took a 2-1 lead into Binghamton's half of the fourth inning in game one, but the Bearcats broke out for five runs in the fourth inning and the sun figuratively never shone on the Highlanders the rest of the first summer-like day of 2009.
The Bearcats added two more runs against Ace in the bottom of the fifth and went on to the 8-2 win in the opener. Binghamton rolled in the nightcap, scoring in all but one turn at-bat, including an eight-run second inning and a seven-run sixth. The Bearcats pounded out 21 hits in game two, including five home runs, a triple and six doubles to go along with seven walks and two hit-by-pitch against three NJIT pitchers.
Ace (0-6) absorbed the loss for NJIT in game one, allowing all eight runs in four-plus innings. RHP Chris Parenti relieved Ace in the fifth inning and retired all three batters he faced, while freshman LHP Jeff Salerno faced three batters in a scoreless, hitless sixth inning.
Senior LHP Jeff Dennis got the win in the first game, lifting his record to 3-3. He pitched the first five innings, allowing six hits and both NJIT runs, while striking out five and walking one. Freshman RHP Alex Adami allowed a hit and a walk without a run over the last two innings.
Trailing 2-1 in the fourth inning, Binghamton rapped seven straight hits, including a two-run home run by senior DH Ken Jacobi and a triple by sophomore RF Corey Taylor. 1B Dave Ciocchi and LF Joe Charron added RBI doubles. One inning later, Taylor belted his team-high ninth home run of the season - a two-run shot over the right field fence.
Taylor, who launched his 10th homer of the season in the second game, has at least one RBI in each of the last 11 games, during which his team has a 9-2 won-lost record.
Binghamton had scored in the bottom of the first inning, but NJIT tied with a run in the top of the second and then went ahead, 2-1, with another run in the third inning.
The Highlanders got their first run after SS Vincent Del Vecchio drew a one-out walk and 2B Matt Tomczyk followed with a double, moving Del Vecchio to third base, where he scored on an RBI ground out by 1B Kyle McCarthy.
NJIT pulled ahead in the third, as LF Craig Binkiewicz led off with a single, stole second, advanced to third on a single by RF Jeffrey Pizzi and scored on a sacrifice fly by 3B John Berner. NJIT got another hit in the inning, but a subsequent double play snuffed the rally.
The Highlanders finished with seven hits, three by Pizzi, who finished the game 3-for-4.
In game two, Bearcat 2B Jim Calderone broke the school record for runs batted in for a game with a 4-for-5, eight-RBI performance. Calderone hit a solo home run in the first inning, an RBI triple in the second, a grand slam in the fifth and a two-run single in the sixth.
Binghamton scored twice in the first, eight in the second, four in the third, four in the fifth and seven in the sixth.
Junior RHP Murphy Smith (6-1) blanked NJIT in six innings, allowing four singles, while fanning 11 without a walk.
Senior LHP PJ Saporito, who had win and a save in his two previous outings to earn Great West Conference Pitcher of the Week laurels, took the loss for the Highlanders at Binghamton, allowing 10 runs in two innings. He is 2-6 on the year. Salerno, who had pitched the scoreless inning in game one, was tagged for eight runs (five earned) in 2.1 innings in the second game, and junior Kyle McCarthy, normally a first baseman, allowed seven runs in his first college pitching appearance mopping up.
Taylor, Binghamton's sophomore outfielder, went 2-for-5, with four RBI in game two. SS Jeff Abrams went 4-for-4 with a school-record three doubles and three RBI. Five other Bearcats collected five hits apiece.
NJIT had six hits in the second game, paced by Binkiewicz, who was 2-for-2 in the game and 3-for-5, plus a walk, in the doubleheader.
The Highlanders got their run in the top of the seventh. C John Bouck was hit by a pitch leading off. After an out, he advanced to second on a wild pitch and later crossed the plate on an RBI single for Giorbis Bermudez, who was taking his first at-bat after entering the game as a first baseman.
NJIT and Binghamton will play another doubleheader on Sunday starting at 1 pm. The twinbill will be played at Bears and Eagles Riverfront Stadium in Newark.
