Coming off a midweek home win over Le Moyne, the Binghamton baseball suffered a series sweep against Bryant in America East (AE) play. The Bearcats dropped the first two games of the weekend after giving up 10 runs in both games before falling 7-2 in the series finale.

“[Bryant] was better than us, bottom line,” Binghamton head coach Tim Sinicki said. “They pitched better, they hit better, they executed better. They deserved to win. There’ll be a day where we get help from our offense, and our pitching has got to be better. Unfortunately, it just didn’t work out in any of the games.”

In the opener, the Bearcats (13-18, 3-9 AE) evened the score at one, courtesy of an RBI single from sophomore shortstop Mike Stellrecht, before Bryant (22-11, 11-1 AE) scored five runs in the bottom of the third to take a 6-1 lead. As BU trailed 7-1 in the eighth inning, junior third baseman Devan Bade hit an RBI single, followed Stellrecht walking in a run to bring the game to 7-3. The Bulldogs responded immediately, driving in three more runs before holding off the Bearcats in the top of the ninth for a 10-3 win.

“We’re down our one and two starters right now,” Sinicki said. “[Senior pitcher Gabe Driscoll] didn’t pitch and [sophomore pitcher Ryan Bates] didn’t pitch. We’re trying to [pitch] with other guys. We’re a little hamstrung right now with those guys being down, so we’re trying to get other guys opportunities. We’ve just got to play the hand we’re dealt right now. We’re not going to win any games scoring three runs. When our pitching is down like that, we need help from our offense, and we didn’t get it.”

In Saturday’s game, Bryant opened the scoring with a three-run second inning, followed by another run in the bottom of the fourth. Though Binghamton would add a run with a junior outfielder Logan Haskell RBI single in the top of the third inning, they would not score again until the top of the ninth. During this span, the Bulldogs added back-to-back three-run innings in the sixth and seventh innings to finish off the win game two 10-2.

“We didn’t get a good enough start, and we got behind the eight ball,” Sinicki said. “Offensively, we didn’t have enough to try and claw our way back [in the second game].”

In the weekend’s final game, the Bearcats kept the game within two runs until the seventh inning, when Bryant plated three runs to take a 6-1 lead. After another Bryant run in the eighth, Binghamton made a last-ditch effort in the top of the ninth with an RBI single from senior catcher Kevin Reilly, but the Bulldogs held on for a 7-2 win and the weekend series sweep. Graduate student pitcher Theo Farynick provided BU with three shutout innings of relief while only allowing one hit on Sunday.

“It was 3-1 and we dropped a ball at first base [and] that opened the floodgates to give them three more runs,” Sinick said. “[Farynick] did a great job. He threw three scoreless innings out of the bullpen for us. Typically [Farynick] hasn’t gone three innings, so the fact he was able to give us three scoreless kind of kept us in the ballgame with a 3-1 deficit [prior to the seventh inning]. That was good.”

Over the weekend, the Bearcats surrendered 27 runs on 40 hits to Bryant, while scoring just seven runs off their own on 18 hits. Bade led Binghamton with five hits and four runs scored, while senior outfielder Mike Gunning hit his 13th home run of the season on Sunday.

“We gotta get this thing turned around as soon as possible,” Sinicki said. “We’re just not playing well enough in any area consistently. We’ve got to try to use Tuesday as a way to jumpstart us and then get ready for the weekend [versus UAlbany].”

The Bearcats will look to bounce back as they host Cornell on Tuesday, April 16. First pitch is set for 6:30 p.m. at the Bearcats Baseball Complex in Vestal, New York.