LITTLE FALLS, N.J. – Junior starter-turned-closer Hayden Tarsia struck out the hosts’ hottest hitter with the tying run on third to end the game and Binghamton baseball (13-13, 6-3 America East) completed a three-game sweep of NJIT with a 5-4 Easter Sunday win at Yogi Berra Stadium. The victory was the Bearcats’ seventh in the last nine games and kept them in second place in the congested conference standings.
Sophomores Braylen Gonzalez and Sean Sweeney continued to shine at the top of the lineup with three hits each and junior closer-turned-starter Jackson Mitchell (W, 1-0) worked five solid innings in his first collegiate start. Leadoff hitter Gonzalez raised his season on-base percentage to .507 and Sweeney, now with enough at-bats to qualify, moved to No. 1 in the America East in hitting (.523) and OPS (1.259). The pair rank 2-3 in the America East in on-base percentage.
Binghamton plated four runs on five hits in the first and after five scoreless ensuing innings, the Bearcats brought home an important fifth run in the seventh. Four Binghamton pitchers limited the Highlanders to five hits with nine strikeouts. NJIT tightened the score with its first hit of the game – a 3-run home run in the fifth. The hosts then plated a run in the ninth before Tarsia froze the final hitter with a called third strike.
The Bearcats jumped on NJIT pitching early by scoring in the first inning for the third straight game. Gonzalez led off with a double, Sweeney singled, sophomore center fielder Matt Bolton drove in the first run with an RBI single. Sophomore first baseman Steven Kraus followed with an RBI single and four batters later, senior shortstop Mike Stellrecht (2-for-4, 2 RBI) came through with a 2-out, 2-run single through the left side for a 4-0 cushion.
Protecting a 4-3 lead in the seventh, Sweeney hit a 1-out single, went to second on an infield error and to third on a wild pitch. He scored three hitters later when the NJIT pitcher walked three straight Bearcats to force in a run and make it 5-3.
An NJIT single and double put two in scoring position in the ninth when Tarsia entered. He got a groundout and the big strikeout to earn his second save of the weekend.
Binghamton hosts Siena in a non-conference game Wednesday at the Bearcats Baseball Complex.
