FARMINGDALE, N.Y. -- UAlbany scored five runs with two outs in the bottom of the ninth to capture an improbable, 8-7, come-from-behind win over top-seeded Binghamton at the 2007 America East Baseball Championship at Farmingdale State College on Friday.
Binghamton and Maine play in an elimination game on Saturday at 12:05 p.m., the winner will move on to face No. 3 Albany in the title game. Binghamton or Maine would need to defeat Albany twice to capture the title, while the Great Danes are just a win away for their first-ever crown.
The early coming was all Binghamton as they built a 7-2 lead heading into the bottom of the eighth. Matt Simek, who went 3-for-4 at the plate with two runs and three RBI, helped get his club off to a good start. In the second, Kyle Klee was hit by a pitch and then worked his way to third base via a fielders’ choice and a sacrifice bunt. Klee then came across on Pat Haughie’s ground out to the shortstop. Binghamton scored three times in the third off UAlbany starter Casey Walsh. Justin Smucker and Ryan James started the uprising with back-to-back doubles. Smith delivered a run-scoring single through the left side, before Klee lined a RBI double down the left-field line.
The Great Danes, who defeated Stony Brook, 5-2, in the first round, would later slice the deficit in half. Second baseman Al Barbato belted a solo homer, his third of the year, over the right-field fence in the third. First baseman Steve Sayre scored Tom Hill, who had walked to lead off the fourth, with a sacrifice fly to left field.
Binghamton put together three consecutive singles in the fifth inning off reliever Josh Willimott. Simek, a first-team all-conference infielder, had the run-scoring hit in that sequence, and then smacked a solo homer in the seventh for a 6-2 advantage. Haughie scored in the seventh when he reached on a fielding error before coming across on a wild pitch.
Albany started its two-out rally when Mike Konstanty ripped his third home run of the spring to left. The Great Danes then loaded the bases. Steve Wyland tied the contest by drilling a 3-1 fastball into the left-field gap for a bases-clearing double. After Hill was intentionally walked, Donovan delievered a soft-liner to center field that scored Wyland with the winning run.