Second baseman Ricky Pacione hit a two-out, walkoff home run to give Marist a 5-4 win over the visiting Binghamton University baseball team Wednesday afternoon in the Bearcats’ final game before America East play begins.
Pacione, Marist’s No. 3 hitter who carries a team-high .391 average, pulled a 1-1 pitch from Binghamton closer Greg Lane out to right-center at McCann Field in Poughkeepsie, N.Y.
“It was one bad pitch, I was trying to stay away against the hitter and I missed in,” Lane said.
Lane (0-1) struck out the first two batters in the bottom of the ninth inning after Binghamton (7-10) scored twice to take a 4-3 lead in the top half. After two strikeouts, Lane got away from his game plan, walking Red Foxes pinch hitter John Prano on a 3-2 pitch to bring up Pacione. Pacione was 3-for-5 with three RBI.
“I was going to my changeup and cutter a lot against the first two batters, I was able to strike those guys out on them,” Lane said. “Once I had two outs and no one on, I got a little comfortable throwing more fastballs and was falling behind.”
Starting pitcher Richard Cary, a Johnson City native, earned the win with 5 2/3 innings of 1-run ball for the Red Foxes (13-9).
It was a disappointing outcome for the Bearcats, who host a weekend doubleheader with Hartford this weekend. But returning players point to last season, when Binghamton lost all four games in its opening AE series, only to bounce back and win the regular season title.
On the ride back to Vestal, BU head coach Tim Sinicki focused on the strengths of Binghamton’s play against Marist.
“I told the guys on the bus, now we just got to build off the positives,” he said. “We’re far from perfect right now, but we continued to show these flashes of being a very good team.”
Some of those flashes came Wednesday from less than familiar names. Binghamton used seven underclassmen pitchers who have not seen consistent time in an attempt to get everyone work before conference play. Mike Augliera, the Bearcats’ fourth starter, started and turned in two hitless innings. A sophomore and four more freshmen followed before Lane, a senior, took over.
“The most impressive thing about today: we threw out a series of guys who had not seen the game mound in about two weeks in a competitive situation,” Sinicki said. “To see the result that they came away with was a real testament to the work they put in practice, I thought that was very important. Knowing that our pitching staff, our young arms have developed, it may be a strength for us.”
Offensively, Binghamton’s best moment of the day may have come in the top of the ninth.
Facing winning pitcher Jacob Wiley (4-1), BU third baseman Kyle Klee walked and stole second with one out. Center fielder Corey Taylor hit a chopper in the hole that Marist shortstop Jon Schwind threw away, putting him on third. Tom Baileys brought Taylor home on a sacrifice fly to right.
Klee and BU left fielder Joe Charron had two hits apiece.
Binghamton took an early 1-0 lead in the second. Pacione had an RBI single in the third that put Marist ahead 2-1.The teams traded lone runs in the eighth.