Baseball team rolls over North Carolina A&T

Binghamton baseball (8-4) continued its assault on North Carolina A&T pitching with 13 runs on 15 hits and rolled to a 13-0 win over the host Aggies on March 10 from War Memorial Stadium in Greensboro, N.C. The victory completed a four-game Binghamton sweep of NC A&T (4-11)  - a series in which the Bearcats averaged more than 10 runs a game and had a team on-base percentage of .409.

Junior designated hitter Shaun McGraw belted a two-run homer to get things started in the second inning and he and junior shortstop John Howell drove in three runs apiece. After McGraw’s long bomb to left field, the Bearcats kept coming with five runs in the third inning and two more in the fourth. Binghamton then added four insurance runs in the sixth inning - more than enough for junior starter Jack Rogalla, who limited the Aggies to a pair of hits in six scoreless innings. Rogalla (2-0) struck out three and didn’t walk a batter before allowing a rotation of four Binghamton relievers to get some work in the late innings.

In the third inning, McGraw produced an RBI double - one of four hits in the inning. Junior center fielder Bill Bereszniewicz, Howell and junior third baseman Brian Ruby had run-scoring singles and senior first baseman Jordon Smucker added an RBI double in the five-run outburst.

In the sixth, Howell struck again with a two-run single and later stole home. Sophomore right fielder Zach Blanden also contributed an RBI single in the frame.

Howell and McGraw each went 2-for-4 with 3 RBI. McGraw scored three runs, as did Ruby and Smucker. Ruby went 2-for-4 with 2 RBI, extending his hit streak to seven games. After a sluggish start to the spring, Ruby is red-hot. He hit .389 in the series (7-for-18) and has six multi-hit games already this season. Smucker went 3-for-5 with 2 RBI, padding his team-high RBI total. He totaled eight RBI in the four-game set and has 19 RBI in 12 games thus far, buoyed by six multi-RBI outings.

Sophomore left fielder Jake Thomas had a hit and closed out the series at a .333 clip. Thomas drove in five over the weekend and exited with a still-scorching .564 on-base percentage.

Blanden went 2-for-5 with an RBI and run scored.

Rogalla lowered his season ERA to 2.25 - best among Binghamton’s starters.