For Immediate Release: March 4, 2006
Contact: John Hartrick (hartrick@binghamton.edu)
Phone: 607-777-6800

Binghamon baseball splits season-opening twinbill at Delaware State
Bearcats win opener 14-0, lose shortened nightcap 6-5

Game 1 Box
Game 2 Box

DOVER, Del. - Binghamton (1-1) amassed 34 hits and 19 runs in 15 innings of baseball but had to settle for a doubleheader split in its season opener at Delaware State (3-10) Saturday afternoon at Soldier Field. The Bearcats won the opener 14-0 and dropped the nightcap 6-5. Game two was called with BU threatening in the sixth inning due to darkness.

Junior catcher Pat Haughie (St. James, N.Y.) had the best day of his collegiate career, going 4-for-4 with two home runs and seven RBI and junior designated hitter Jeff Wertepny (Des Plaines, Ill.) collected six hits and four RBI.

In game one, sophomore pitcher Scott Diamond (Guelph, Ontario), the 2005 America East Rookie of the Year, tossed five innings of two-hit ball to earn the win. Binghamton gave him plenty of support with 14 runs on 21 hits. The Bearcats scored single runs in the first and second innings, two in the third and fifth, six in the sixth and single runs in the eighth and ninth innings to close out the scoring. Diamond struck out five and walked just one. Junior Mike Van Gorder (Vestal, N.Y.) went three scoreless innings in relief and senior Nick Bogdanoff (San Mateo, Cailf.) tossed the final inning.

Offensively, Haughie hit a solo home run in the second and added a three-run shot in the sixth. Wertepny drilled a two-run homer in the third and junior first baseman Brendon Hitchcock (Laceyville, Pa.) added a solo shot in the fifth. Wertepny went 3-for-4 with three runs scored and three RBI and junior right fielder Jeff Monaco (Binghamton, N.Y.) went 3-for-5 with two RBI.

In game two, Delaware State jumped out of the gate with six runs in the first inning before the Bearcats began to chip away at the deficit. Binghamton notched a run in the second, another in the fourth and two more in the fifth to trim the margin to 6-5. Then BU put its first two runners on base in the sixth inning before umpires ended the game due to darkness, thwarting any comeback bid.

Haughie hit a pinch-hit, two-out, two-run double in the fifth inning to pull BU to within a run. Freshman left fielder Ken Jacobi (Milford, Conn.) was 3-for-3 in his first collegiate start.

The Bearcats stranded 10 runners in the five innings.

The teams will play a doubleheader Sunday beginning at noon.