Baseball Drops Doubleheader at Binghamton

ITHACA, N.Y. -- The University of Maine baseball team dropped a pair of games at Binghamton on Sunday afternoon. The Black Bears fell in the first game 6-0 and lost the second game 2-1. The loss in the first game snapped Maine's 14-game winning streak. Maine falls to 21-16 on the season and 7-2 in America East play. Binghamton improves to 15-16 on the season and 6-2 in conference play.

In the first game, Binghamton sored a pair of runs in the bottom of the second inning. With two outs, Brian Ruby singled to right field and Daniel Nevares drew a walk. Both runners scored when Mike Danaher doubled to left field.

The Bearcats extended their lead to 5-0 in the bottom of the third inning. Bill Bereszniewic singled to left field and scored when Jake Thomas singled up the middle. Dave Ciocchi followed with a single through the right side. Jordon Smucker singled through the right side driving in Thomas. Ciocchi scored on a Ruby sacrifice fly.

Bereszniewic walked, stole second moved to third on an error and scored when John Howell doubled to left field in the bottom of the fourth to make it a 6-0 game. Neither team plated a run the rest of the game.

Stephen Perakslis (Abington, Mass.) got the start for Maine and went three innings. He allowed five runs on seven hits and falls to 4-3 on the season. Fran Whitten (Westbrough, Mass.) went two innings and allowed a run on a pair of hits. Jonathan Balentina (Willemstad, Curacao) pitched a scoreless sixth inning.

Mike Augliera pitched the complete game for the Bearcats and allowed just four hits. He improves to 4-4 on the season.

In the second game, Maine jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the top of the second inning. Justin Leisenheimer (Middle Village, N.Y.) was hit. Sam Balzano (Portland, Maine) singled to right field and Leisenheimer advanced to second base. He moved to third when Troy Black (Mississauga, Ontario) reached on a fielder's choice and scored on a balk.

Binghamton knotted the second at 1-1 in the bottom of the third inning. Bereszniewicz reached on a fielder's choice and advanced to third when Howell doubled to left center. He scored when Jake Thomas singled to first base.

The game remained 1-1 until the bottom of the eighth inning. In the eighth, Bereszniewicz singled up the middle and Howell followed with a single to center. Bereszniewicz scored the winning run when Ciocchi singled through the right side.

Tyler Patzalek (Burlington, Ontario) finished the game 2-for-3 for the Black Bears.

Shaun Coughlin (Northford, Conn.) got the start for the Black Bears. He went 7.1 innings and allowed two runs on nine hits. He struck out a pair and falls to 3-3 on the season. He was replaced by Mike Connolly (Middleborough, Mass.), who pitched the final 0.2 of an inning. He allowed one hit.

Jake Lambert went eight innings for Binghamton. He allowed one run on eight hits while striking out three. He improves to 4-3 on the season. Lee Sosa pitched the ninth to pick up his seventh save.

Maine returns to action on Wednesday, April 25 when it travels to UMass for a single game. First pitch is scheduled for 3 PM.