Sean Ratliff hit a game-tying solo homer in the eighth inning, but New Hampshire responded with a run in the ninth to take the game and the series from Binghamton, 6-5. The B-Mets are now seven games behind the first-place Fisher Cats entering the All-Star break. New Hampshire took three out of four in the series.
Chris Schwinden retired the first five hitters he faced before the Fisher Cats rallied for a pair of runs in the second. David Cooper laced a double down the line in right to reach scoring position. Adeiny Hechavarria followed with an RBI double to left-center, plating Cooper. Brian Jeroloman made it three straight hits with an RBI knock to center, scoring Hechavarria to make it 2-0.
Binghamton (48-43) issued a response in the third with a two-out rally of its own. Kirk Nieuwenhuis led off with a double to right, extending his season-long hitting streak to 10 games. After Ratliff flied out to deep left, New Hampshire starter Randy Boone walked Marshall Hubbard and Josh Satin to load the bases. Raul Reyes struck out for the second out, but Mike Nickeas would not let the B-Mets go empty-handed. The catcher pulled a double into the left-field corner, plating two runs and Boone brought the go-ahead run across with a wild pitch to give Binghamton its only lead on the day, 3-2.
New Hampshire (55-36) rallied to tie in the fourth, again scoring with two outs. Cooper doubled to straightaway center off Schwinden. Hechavarria followed with an RBI single to center, bringing the game back even.
The Fisher Cats chased Schwinden from the game in the sixth with back-to-back home runs leading off the stanza. Former B-Mets’ third baseman Shawn Bowman hit the first, a towering blast to left, and Eric Thames dealt the knockout blow with a line-drive jack to center. The right-hander was charged with five runs in five-plus innings and left on the hook.
Boone exited after the fifth having allowed three runs on seven hits with three walks and three strikeouts.
Michael Fisher kept the long ball trend going, taking reliever Clint Everts yard to right-center on a 2-2 slider, his second homer in as many days, trimming the New Hampshire lead to 5-4.
In the eighth, Ratliff ended a stretch of six in a row retired by righty Adrian Martin with an opposite-field blast to left-center. It was Ratliff’s eighth homer with Binghamton and it tied the score at five.
Edgar Ramirez, who retired all seven hitters he faced over 2 1/3 innings of relief, handed the ball over to Roy Merritt for the ninth. Merritt retired the first hitter before giving up back-to-back singles to Brian Jeroloman and Callix Crabbe. John Lujan was summoned to quell the rally, but got behind in the count to Fisher Cats’ leadoff man Darin Mastroianni, who poked a 3-1 fastball to right, plating Jonathan Diaz, the pinch-runner for Jeroloman, giving New Hampshire the 6-5 cushion.
Binghamton got two aboard with two outs in the ninth against Vince Bongiovanni, but Fisher flied out to center with the tying run in scoring position. Bongiovanni was credited with his first save of the season. Merritt took the loss, his fourth.
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