Binghamton Denied by Richmond in Walk-Off Finish

Richmond, VA – The Binghamton Rumble Ponies (14-27) led all night, but fell in walk-off fashion to the Richmond Flying Squirrels (29-11), 7-6 from CarMax Park. The Flying Squirrels have 15 comeback wins this year and 10 wins when trailing into the eighth inning.

In the bottom of the ninth inning, right fielder Ty Hanchey delivered a game-tying solo home run to lead off the inning against Binghamton right-hander Saul Garcia (0-1, BS, 2).

The designated hitter, Jack Payton, followed with a walk and was bumped to second on a sacrifice bunt from shortstop Zane Zielinski. With two outs, Parks Harber delivered the walk-off single to win it 7-6 for Richmond.

The Rumble Ponies struck first in the top of the first inning as second baseman Nick Lorusso smacked an RBI single and first baseman JT Schwartz brought in a run as he reached on a throwing error from second baseman Diego Velazquez.

The score sat at 2-2 in the top of the third inning until Schwartz came to life once again this series with his second home run. It was a three-run shot that gave Binghamton a 5-2 lead.

Left-hander Matt Wilkinson got the ball for Richmond and tossed just 3.0 innings, and allowed four earned runs. Prior, Wilkinson started twice against Binghamton for the Akron RubberDucks, going 9.1 innings pitched and allowing just one earned run.

Richmond fought back slowly all night, tacking on two runs in the bottom of the fourth inning off a Payton sacrifice fly, and a Zilenski RBI ground out to make it 5-4 Binghamton.

Then in the fifth inning, Binghamton made it 6-4 on an RBI groundout from right fielder Jose Ramos, but Richmond answered as Harber hit a lead-off solo home run off of left-hander Gabby Rodriguez, who just pitched one inning.

Left-hander Jonathan Santucci got the start for Binghamton, tossing 4.0 innings and surrendering four runs on seven hits while striking out four.

Jacob Reimer was a bright spot for the Binghamton offense, with two hits and scoring three times. He is 8-for-23 (.347 AVG) over his last six games.

Right-hander Dan Hammer pitched a scoreless seventh and eighth inning, striking out four batters in his second appearance for Binghamton.

The Rumble Ponies lost in walk-off fashion for the first time this season and were three outs away from their first three-game win streak of the year and Richmond’s first back-to-back losses at home this year.

Postgame Notes: Jacob Reimer tallies seventh multi-hit game (2-for-4, 2 R, 2B)...JT Schwartz has five RBI and two HR in the series (1-for-4, HR, 3 RBI)...Jaylen Palmer (2-for-4, SB)...Nick Lorusso has an eight-game hit streak (2-for-4, RBI)... Dan Hammer (2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 4 SO).