LOWELL, Mass. – For the third time in four years, Binghamton is the America East Baseball champion. The top-seeded Bearcats beat third-seeded Stony Brook, 6-3, to claim their fourth tournament title in program history on Saturday at LeLacheur Park.
The Bearcats scored four times in the fifth inning and received solid outings from Nick Wegmann and Rob Hardy to clinch the victory. Jason Agresti notched five hits in the tournament, including three in the final game and an unforgettable walk-off grand slam on Friday to be named the championship’s Most Outstanding Player.
With the win, Binghamton earned the America East automatic bid to the NCAA Baseball Championship. The Bearcats will learn their postseason draw during the NCAA Baseball Championship selection show on Monday at noon. It will be televised on ESPNU.
Agresti highlighted the 2016 Baseball All-Championship team. He was joined by teammates Mike Bunal, Brendan Skidmore and Reed Gamache, Stony Brook’s Chad Lee, Bobby Honeyman and Kevin Kernan, Hartford’s Kyle Gauthier and Aaron Wilson, Albany’s Karson Canaday and Conor Powers, Maine’s John Arel and UMBC’s Andrew Casali.
Stony Brook’s Johnny Caputo earned the America East baseball Elite 18 Award. The award is given to the student-athlete competing in the championship who has reached junior status and has the highest cumulative grade point average amongst the competitors. Caputo, a senior, carries a 3.70 GPA as a business management major.
Stony Brook opened the scoring in the contest, scratching across a run in the bottom of the second. After David Real tripled to start the inning, Honeyman brought him home with a sac fly to put the Seawolves up, 1-0.
Binghamton responded in the fourth. After Skidmore walked, Posavec reached on an infield single followed by a bloop single by Agresti that loaded the bases. Rufo then brought the run in on a fielder’s choice as Posavec was erased at second base. Stony Brook’s Lee escaped any further damage by getting a foul out and a fly out.
Lee allowed just one run in four innings, working on only two-days rest for the Seawolves. He surrendered just one run over 11 innings in the tournament.
The Bearcats opened the game up by putting a four-spot on the board in the fifth off of reliever Teddy Rodliff. With runners on second and third and one out, Skidmore singled up the middle to score two runs, giving Binghamton a 3-1 lead. Posavec’s RBI double and Agresti’s single plated two more in the inning to make it a 5-1 game.
Binghamton tacked on one more run in the the seventh on a Posavec sac fly.
Stony Brook mounted a two-out rally in the eighth. With runners on first and third and two down, Parenty brought home a run with a single to left. Casey Baker followed with a run-scoring double down the line in right to cut the deficit to 6-3. Binghamton reliever Rob Hardy escaped any further damage by robbing a hard-hit line drive that came back up the middle to retire the side.
Hardy allowed one runner in the ninth before getting a strikeout to end the tournament.
Visit Championship Central for links to box scores and highlights from all the tournament games.
All-Championship Team
Andrew Casali, UMBC
John Arel, Maine
Carson Kanaday, Albany
Conor Powers, Albany
Aaron Wilson, Hartford
Kyle Gauthier, Hartford
Bobby Honeyman, Stony Brook
Chad Lee, Stony Brook
Kevin Kernan, Stony Brook
Reed Gamache, Binghamton
Mike Bunal, Binghamton
Brendan Skidmore, Binghamton
Jason Agresti, Binghamton – Most Outstanding Player