For Immediate Release: April 8, 2007
Contact: John Hartrick (hartrick@binghamton.edu)
Phone: 607-777-6800

Binghamton baseball handles Albany 4-1 to complete four-game sweep
Van Gorder shuts down Danes for third win of season

Box Score

ALBANY, N.Y. - Senior right hander Mike Van Gorder (Vestal, N.Y.) scattered six hits and one run over six innings and Binghamton (10-8, 4-0 America East) broke open a close game with three runs in the fifth inning en route to a 4-1 victory over Albany (10-15, 0-4 AE) Sunday afternoon at Varsity Field.

Van Gorder (3-1) kept the Great Danes at bay, surrendering only one run in two singles and a groundout in the sixth inning. He lowered his team-best earned run average to 1.71. Freshman reliever Murphy Smith (Clifton Park, N.Y.) went two scoreless innings before giving way to junior closer Khalid Afify (Binghamton, N.Y.), who nailed down his third save of the spring with one inning of work.

Offensively, senior first baseman Brendon Hitchcock (Laceyville, Pa.) went 3-for-4 with two RBI, raising his conference-best average to .446. Hitchcock drove in a run in the first inning and had an RBI single in the fifth, as did senior second baseman Matt Simek (Vestal, N.Y.). The Bearcats' other run scored courtesy of an Albany error in the fifth. Simek wound up 3-for-4.

Binghamton puts its four-game win streak on the line with a doubleheader at Cornell Tuesday afternoon.