Coming off an impressive doubleheader sweep of the University of Maine, the Binghamton University baseball team fell to Cornell University on Wednesday afternoon with a score of 9-5.

Cornell (28-11-1, 13-3 Ivy League) scored seven unanswered runs after the third inning while holding the Bearcats (15-17, 6-2 America East) to only one hit over the final seven innings of the game.

Binghamton head coach Tim Sinicki said he was disappointed with the overall effort of the team.

“We had some good individual performances,” he said. “But we are not talented enough to win games with just ‘some’ good performances.”

Cornell took an early 2-0 lead on three hits in the first inning, but the Bearcats quickly countered.

After a pair of walks to junior first baseman Jordon Smucker and freshman third baseman Brian Ruby, sophomore second baseman Daniel Nevares singled through the left side to load the bases with no outs, setting up a potentially big inning.

The next batter, freshman designated hitter Scott Hagan, was hit by a pitch to bring the first runner across the plate for the Bearcats. Fellow freshman Zach Blanden followed with an RBI single to the right side to even the score at 2-2. After a fielder’s choice ground out cut down a run at the plate, Hagan was able to score on a wild pitch to give the Bearcats a 3-2 lead. Sophomore shortstop John Howell then knocked a two-run double down the left field line to push the Binghamton lead to 5-2.

Following the strong offensive performance in the second, however, the Bearcats were held scoreless for the remainder of the game.

The Big Red took advantage of poor pitching in the fourth and regained the lead, 6-5. After tacking on another two-out run off of a pair of singles in the fifth, Cornell delivered the finishing blow in the eighth when an infield throwing error, a wild pitch and a double allowed two unearned runs to cross the plate.

“Our focus was lacking and I thought we did a poor job responding to their four-run inning,” Sinicki said.

The final six of Cornell’s seven pitchers silenced Binghamton’s bats, allowing just one hit in 7.2 innings. The one hit came in the ninth inning off the bat of Ruby, who stroked a single into center field to extend his hit streak to 11 games. The Bearcats also used seven pitchers in the game, with freshman Greg Ostner providing two hitless innings and recording two strikeouts.

Binghamton currently sits third in the conference and is three games behind first-place Stony Brook University. BU is set to head to University of Hartford this weekend to take on the Hawks (9-31, 1-9 AE) in a four-game series with doubleheaders on both Saturday and Sunday.

“Our guys are well aware what’s at stake on the weekend and the series at Hartford is no different,” Sinicki said. “Although [Hartford’s] record isn’t great, they are a much-improved team with a new coaching staff and energy. They are looking to knock someone off; we just have to protest against us being that someone.”

The first game is set to begin at noon on Saturday at Fiondella Field.