LOWELL, Mass. – Rain played a part in the second day of the 2013 America East Baseball Championship at LeLacheur Park in Lowell, Mass., suspending the second game of the night in the seventh inning with No. 2 seed Binghamton leading No. 1 Maine, 8-2, with two outs in the bottom of the seventh inning. No. 4 Stony Brook was able to stay alive in the championship a, 3-1, win over No. 3 Albany in the first game of the day, eliminating the Great Danes from the tournament.
Binghamton and Maine will resume play at 2 p.m. Friday with a runner on second and two outs in the bottom of the seventh.
Stony Brook awaits the loser of the contest at 4 p.m. on Friday, with the winner of that game advancing to the championship.
Stony Brook 3, Albany 1
Stony Brook reliever Josh Mason got the Seawolves out of a two on and nobody out jam in the bottom of the ninth inning as the Seawolves staved off elimination with a 3-1 win over Albany in the loser’s bracket of the 2013 America East Championship.
Junior Brandon McNitt tossed seven solid innings to start the game for Stony Brook, allowing just one unearned run on five hits and struck out four. Offensively, freshman Johnny Caputo had three hits and an RBI while Mason had a pair of singles and scored twice.
Albany starter Austin Chase also had a strong outing, allowing two unearned runs on six hits over seven innings. Greg Muller drove in the lone run for the Great Danes with an infield single.
The Seawolves scratched the first run across in the top of the second, as Mason reached on a throwing error with two outs by third baseman Joey Tracy and came around to score on a single to center by Caputo. Chase escaped a first and second jam by getting Austin Shives to line into a double play to third.
Albany threatened to tie the game in the bottom of the third, but America East Rookie of the Year Jack Parenty gunned down Tracy at the plate as he tried to score from second on a single by Brian Bullard to maintain the one-run advantage.
The Seawolves pushed across and insurance run in the fourth, as Caputo singled and stole second before coming around to score on an error by the shortstop on a groundball by Shives.
Albany got on the board for the first time in the tournament in the fifth inning, cutting the deficit to 2-1. McNitt retired the first two batters before Tracy reached on a throwing error by Brett Tenuto. Nolan Gaige and Brian Bullard followed with back-to-back walks to load the bases for Muller, who hit a sharp ground ball up the middle that was stopped by Cole Peragine behind second base but he had no play and allowed Tracy to score from third. McNitt got out of the jam by getting Josh Nethaway to ground into a fielder’s choice.
A 59 minute rain delay interrupted the game in the top of the eighth, forcing both starting pitchers to exit after seven innings.
Stony Brook pushed across an important insurance run in the top of the ninth to extend the lead to 3-1, as Caputo crossed the plate for the second time on a sacrifice fly by Cole Peragine.
Albany looked to mount a comeback in the bottom of the ninth, starting the inning with back-to-back singles off of reliever Chad Lee that put runners at the corners with nobody out. Mason came in to relieve Lee, and proceeded to get Craig Lepre to fly out and Tracy to ground into a 6-4-3 game-ending double-play.
Stony Brook advances to play the loser of Binghamton and Maine Friday at 4 p.m. for the right to appear in the title game.
Binghamton 8, Maine 2 (Bottom 7th, 2 outs)
Binghamton and Maine were suspended by rain with two outs in the bottom of the seventh inning with the second-seeded Bearcats leading the first-seeded Black Bears, 8-2. The game will be resumed Friday at noon.
The Bearcats did their damage offensively with two outs, going 7-for-14 at the plate with two men down in the game. Zach Blanden had a pair of those hits to drive in three runs.
Binghamton starting pitcher Jack Rogalla gave up a home run in the first inning but shut Maine out for the remainder of his outing, escaping several jams and receiving a great defensive effort from his teammates.
No. 1 seed Maine wasted no time getting on the scoreboard, as Player of the Year Michael Fransoso launched the 11th pitch of the game from Rogalla 330 feet over the fence in right field with a man on first to give the Black Bears the early 2-0 lead.
Binghamton chipped into the lead in the bottom of the second, scoring one run on three hits. Ruby started the inning with a single to right and later advanced to second on a ground out. Bill Bereszniewicz brought the run home with a seeing-eye single in the hole at second that brought Ruby in from second.
The Bearcats tied the game in the very next inning, as David Schanz led off with a single, advanced to third on a single by Jake Thomas, and scored on an RBI ground out by Daniel Nevares to knot the game at 2-2.
Binghamton’s Zach Blanden came up with a two-out, two-run double to the left-center field gap that broke the 2-2 tie in the bottom of the fourth. The Bearcats tacked on another when David Schanz reached on an error that scored Blanden from second to take a 5-2 lead.
Maine threatened in the bottom of the fifth, loading the bases with two outs following a bunt single by Sam Balzano. Rogalla then got Troy Black to pop out to shortstop to end the inning.
The Black Bears put another runner in scoring position with two outs in the seventh,
Maine advanced a runner to second on a balk in the seventh, but Rogalla once again recorded a big out as Howell gobbled up a ground ball that retired Scott Heath.
Binghamton opened up the game in the bottom of the inning, scoring three times including twice with two outs to take an 8-2 lead before the rain delay. Shaun McGraw singled in the inning and later came home on a wild pitch by Luke Morrill. Bereszniewicz then added his second RBI of the game with a single to left field. Blanden followed with a sharp double to right field that plated Bereszniewicz, before the rain came.
The game went into a delay at 11:12 p.m. and was suspended shortly after. The game will be continued in the bottom of the seventh inning at noon.