ORONO, Maine – For the fifth time in program history and first since 2016, the Binghamton Bearcats are America East baseball champions!
The Bearcats stamped a perfect 3-0 run through the tournament with a 7-1 win over UMass Lowell in the championship game Saturday night at Mahaney Diamond. With the win, Tim Sinicki’s program trails only Delaware and Stony Brook for most league championships. The Bearcats will play in the Stanford Regional with their first NCAA opponent being No. 2 Stanford Friday, June 3 on ESPN+.
Binghamton starter Ryan Bryggman tossed seven innings, allowing one earned run and striking out seven River Hawks. The right-hander set the tone early with four strikeouts in the first two frames.
Senior shortstop Jake Evans extended his hit streak to 23 games with an RBI single in the second inning that put the Bearcats ahead as Rookie of the Year Evin Sullivan crossed the plate. Evans went 2-for-3 from the dish in the championship game and 6-for-10 with four runs and four RBI in the postseason, earning Most Outstanding Player honors.
The River Hawks tied the game when Nick Roselli made an impressive catch but Robert Gallagher was able to tag up from third. The fourth seed nearly grabbed the lead that same inning but a relay from Cavan Tully and Devan Bade threw out the runner at home to end the threat.
In the bottom of the fourth, Andrew Tan took a two-strike off-speed pitch to left field to score two Bearcats. Colin Mason added a sacrifice fly to make it 4-1. Two innings later it was Mason driving in Tan as the Bearcat lead increased to four. Sullivan drove in the final two runs in the seventh inning and Justin Rosner took the mound for the final six outs.
Evans, Sullivan, Tan and Bryggman were all named to the All-Championship Team. The other members of the team included UMass Lowell’s Fritz Genther, Gerry Siracusa and Matt Draper, NJIT’s Aidan Kidd and Luke Longo, Maine’s Connor Goodman and Nick Marquez, UMBC’s Nick Remy and Hartford’s Tim Blaisdell.
UMass Lowell freshman Jacob Humphrey broke the conference’s 25 year-old record for stolen bases in a single season with a second-inning steal that put his season total at 46.
For box scores, highlights and championship recaps, visit Championship Central and follow @AmericaEast and @AEGameday on Twitter to get the real-time championship updates. Use the #AEChamps and #AEBASE hashtags to join the conversation.
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