For the first time this season, the Binghamton baseball team opened its doors to the Bearcats Baseball Complex for a weekend series against Lafayette. After winning game one on Friday, the Bearcats took both games of the doubleheader on Saturday to complete the three-game sweep over the Leopards.

“Winning three games on a weekend is difficult in college baseball no matter who the opponent is, where you’re playing [or] what the conditions are,” said Binghamton head coach Tim Sinicki. “So I’m really happy that we were able to find a way to get all three wins … Are we quite where we want to be yet as a ball club? Not yet, but we’re getting there. We saw some good things and we just have to keep moving forward and working hard like the guys do all the time.”

After two scoreless innings, junior outfielder Tommy Reifler led off the bottom of the third with a double into left-center field. This sparked the Bearcat (8-7) offense as they loaded the bases with no outs. After picking up two outs, BU plated its first run of the day as sophomore infielder Nick Roselli drew a walk to bring in one run. However, Lafayette (3-16) tied the game in the top of the fifth with a double that was hit deep into center field.

Binghamton broke the stalemate in the bottom of the eighth after an error by the visitors allowed the hosts to steal a run. During the next at-bat, junior shortstop Isaiah Corry added to the lead, hitting a sacrifice fly into center field. After that, senior outfielder Cavan Tully followed Corry up with a single slapped into left field to give the hosts a 4-1 advantage that they ultimately protected to win game one.

“Our team works really hard,” Reifler said. “Our coach says it’s a game of throwing the ball and catching the ball, and as we get outside more, we’re doing a really good job of sticking to that. We don’t get outside very often, but the chances we get, we’re looking better each day, so we’re looking to keep it going in the future.”

Game two saw both sides remain stagnant for its majority, as it was scoreless through four innings. The Leopards, however, broke the tie with a two-run homer in the top of the fifth inning to take the first lead of the game. Despite this, the Bearcats answered in the bottom of the inning, plating four runs spearheaded by an RBI single from junior outfielder Mike Gunning and a two-RBI double from senior first baseman Kevin Gsell.

In the next inning, the visitors managed to knot the game up at four courtesy of a two-run single. After holding Lafayette in the top of the seventh, BU had an opportunity to win the game in the bottom of the inning. Gsell led off with a double into right center, and three batters later, sophomore outfielder Logan Haskell had an opportunity to win the game with a runner on first and third. Haskell laid down a sacrifice bunt that allowed Gsell to score the winning run and secure Binghamton’s 5-4 walk-off win.

“I think it just speaks to the character of the guys we have in the program,” Sinicki said. “Fortunately, we have a lot of experience in the program right now. So I think, the guys who have played a lot of innings for us, they believe in themselves. They believe in each other … So again, really credit to our guys for hanging in there and finding a way.”

The final game of the series was an offensive battle as both teams scored in the first inning. After six innings, the Bearcats held an 8-5 lead with contributions from both sophomore infielder Devan Bade and Gunning. However, in the seventh and eighth innings, BU scored six unanswered runs to break the game open and take a comfortable 14-5 advantage. The Leopards were only able to score one more run in the top of the ninth as Binghamton cruised to a 14-6 win to complete the sweep.

Five different Bearcats had multiple hits in the final game, including Reifler, Tully, Corry, Gunning and Bade. Reifler and Gunning both drove in three runs apiece to cap off productive weekends.

“We always tell the guys every year that we’re not ever gonna be good enough where we can just let one or two guys carry our team,” Sinicki said. “We have to have contributions from everybody, and [that] may not happen every single game, but we need our bottom-of-the-order guys to chip in when the top-of-the-order guys aren’t doing it … I’m really happy with the fact that a lot of guys are contributing, and it’s not just one or two players.”

BU will return to action against Penn State on Tuesday, March 21. First pitch is scheduled for 5 p.m. at Medlar Field at Lubrano Park in State College, Pennsylvania.