Finally getting an elusive conference title means more than just succeeding one year. It means the past years of losing the championship game were not in vain.
Binghamton University’s baseball team captured its first ever America East conference title and a NCAA tournament berth following its 16-6 win over Albany in the championship game of the tournament on May 23.
“It’s all part of the process,” head coach Tim Sinicki said. “The previous two years was valuable experience for our team.”
The Bearcats have lost each of the past two conference championship games. Both years the Bearcats won the regular season title but failed to capitalize in the postseason. After two straight championship rounds of nonexistent BU offense √É¢’ a 1-0 loss to Albany and a 6-0 loss to Stony Brook √É¢’ the Bearcats finally exploded in this one.
“Coming up short in those tournaments helped us learn a lot,” Sinicki said. “From learning preparation, learning to come up short and learning to get better the next year.”
“We’ve won regular season titles but lost in the [playoffs] these past few years, but we were fortunate enough to hit the ball this year,” said Binghamton Director of Athletics Dr. Joel Thirer.
Junior second baseman Jim Calderone went 3-5 with three RBIs in the final game and was named the Most Outstanding Player after hitting .615 through the tournament.
The essential perk to winning a conference championship is the NCAA tournament berth. With the championship, Binghamton was placed in the Greenville Regional in North Carolina. Pitted as the fourth seed out of the four teams in the region, the Bearcats came out with something to prove in their first-ever NCAA tournament appearance.
After falling 11-7 in their opener, the Bearcats came out on fire in the elimination game against George Mason. It was an 11-6 win, Binghamton baseball’s first ever NCAA tournament win, that featured 14 hits for each team. But, it was BU who got the runs across the plate, led by sophomore outfielders Henry Dunn and Corey Taylor, who hit home runs for the Bearcats.
Taylor hit his school record-tying 16th homer of the year, a two-run shot in the bottom of the first inning to give the Bearcats a 2-0 lead. Dunn belted a three-run, two-out homer in the sixth inning to push BU’s lead to 7-2.
“The win and our competing down there speaks to our team and conference,” Sinicki said. “People think baseball is played better in warm weather climates but for us we showed our conference is competitive.”
“We continue hitting in the NCAAs and our guys can certainly hold their heads high,” Thirer said. “They know who we are down in North Carolina, and our guys played hard and competed well and I couldn’t be prouder of them.”
BU tallied a school-record 30th win, improving upon the 29-win mark set last season.
The Bearcats finished their NCAA tournament run against the top seed in the region and 18th-ranked East Carolina Pirates. Despite holding a 7-3 lead going to the fifth, the Bearcats bullpen couldn’t control East Carolina’s bats and looked fatigued throughout the game en route to a 16-9 loss.
The Pirates poured on eight runs in the fifth, batting through the order and hitting two home runs while dispatching two BU pitchers.
Sophomore Corey Taylor grounded out to score a run in the third, giving Taylor the school record in RBI with 56 and breaking the old mark of 55 set by former America East Player of the Year Mathieu Bergeron in 2005.
“It has been great for the program,” said Thirer on the NCAA win. “Coach Sinicki has been with us for 17 years. He’s been a terrific coach and built a program for us.”
Sinicki was pleased with the great season but doesn’t expect it to end this year.
“We are never satisfied, we want to get better,” he said. “If getting better means conference champs again, then so be it. We don’t want to be a one-year wonder.”
With a solid core of the championship team returning, the Bearcats look to continue to be competitive for the next few seasons.
“We want to compete for these kinds of honors and opportunities every year,” Sinicki said. “We’re competitive people and we would like to get back next year.”
The Bearcats finish their record season with a 30-22 record, going 13-7 in the AE, winning the regular season title, the conference championship and going 1-2 in the Greenville Regional of the NCAA tournament.
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The chances of repeating as America East champions may have taken a hit, as junior pitcher Murphy Smith was selected by the Oakland Athletics in the 13th round of the Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft last Wednesday. He was the 393rd overall selection and first from the America East.
“We’re very happy for Murph, he had a great year and has a great career,” Thirer said. “He’s a great player, we’re excited for him and the opportunity for a terrific future.”
Smith was the America East Pitcher of the Year this year after leading the conference in wins, strikeouts and ERA. He went 7-3 and had 84 strikeouts with a 3.12 ERA.
“It is bittersweet on many levels,” Sinicki said of Smith. “Good news is his chance to play professional baseball and it shows potential recruits that we try to develop players and help them to opportunities. The tough part is moving on without him; its tough to overcome but it will give our other pitchers opportunities to perform.”