Binghamton University’s offense was hot at the plate on Tuesday, but they couldn’t convert hits into runs as the Bearcats fell to Army, 5-2.
Despite the loss, the Bearcats (16-15, 8-2 America East) are enjoying some praise for individual players, with Dave Ciocchi being honored as America East Player of the Week and Greg Lane being named to the watch list for Stopper of the Year.
Traveling to West Point, Binghamton faced an Army team (21-16) that was coming off of a four-game sweep of Lehigh University. The Bearcats started freshman right-hander Alex Adami, who had given up two runs in a third of an inning in BU’s loss to Stony Brook Sunday. Adami was much better against Army, giving up just one hit and one walk to go with two strikeouts in three shutout innings.
“I thought the biggest bright spot was the fact that we pitched very well,” said Binghamton head coach Tim Sinicki. “We threw some young arms who haven’t had an opportunity to throw a lot of innings to this point, and I thought each one of them showed some promise and had good outings. I was happy with that.”
After Adami left the game, Army scored the first run of the contest when sophomore Ben Koenigsfeld stole home on a double steal. They tacked on another run in the fifth with a pair of two-out hits to take a 2-0 lead. BU rallied back, scoring on RBI singles from senior Kyle Klee and sophomore Corey Taylor in the top of the sixth. However, with men on first and second, freshman Ciocchi grounded into a double play, followed by a groundout by junior Joe Charron to end the inning.
In the bottom of the inning, the Bearcats handed two runs to Army. The Black Knights scored the two runs on two hits, but were aided by two Bearcat errors, including a failed pickoff attempt. Army added another run in the eighth, utilizing a double and another Bearcat error, to win by a final score of 5-2.
“We didn’t field the ball all that well; the three errors were very costly,” said Sinicki. “No excuses, field conditions were good, we just didn’t play well defensively.”
Perhaps the biggest problem for the Bearcats was bringing runners in. The team had ten hits, and put a man on base in every inning except the second. However, the team only knocked in two runs. The Bearcats hit into three double plays, were caught stealing twice and left six men on base.
“We just didn’t piece anything together to score some runs,” said Sinicki. He later added that playing a game on Tuesday after playing 32 innings over the weekend was “asking a lot of a student athlete to turn around and expect their bodies to recover from the weekend.”
Despite the loss, the Bearcats did have a couple of players recognized for their play of late. Freshman first baseman Dave Ciocchi was named America East Player of the Week for his play against Stony Brook; he hit .500 with nine RBIs over the weekend.
“The primary reason that we recruited David was because we saw a lot of offensive promise in him,” Sinicki said. “We thought that he was a young man who could contribute right away as a freshman, offensively. We’re thrilled at the job that he’s doing right now, and obviously I think that a freshman doing that speaks well for the future of him and for our program. I think obviously he’ll be a cornerstone for years to come in terms of our lineup.”
Senior closer Greg Lane also received accolades, as he was one of 45 players in the country to be named to the National Collegiate Baseball Writer’s Association’s Stopper of the Year watch list. He has two wins and a save in seven shutout innings in conference play. He has five saves and a 3.78 ERA overall on the year.
“It’s a tremendous relief to have someone like that,” Sinicki said of Lane. “I think really that when the guys seem him come into the game, everyone’s confident that nine times out of ten we’re going to lock the game up at that point and it’s going to be a win for us, and for the most part he’s done that.”
The Bearcats will play a home-and-home against the New Jersey Institute of Technology (3-21). Despite the poor record, NJIT has won two of its last four games.
“We try to tell our guys pretty much the same thing, and that’s to get better every time out, and it doesn’t matter if we’re playing New Mexico earlier in the year or Stony Brook like we did last weekend or NJIT this weekend,” Sinicki said. “Our goal is to get better, and we’ll all be disappointed as a program if we don’t continue that trend here towards the end of the year.”
The teams are scheduled to play a doubleheader in Binghamton on Saturday, beginning at noon, before traveling to New Jersey for a doubleheader on Sunday, beginning at 1 p.m.