Binghamton, NY – The No. 2 seeded UMBC Retrievers advanced to the winner's bracket of the 2023 America East Baseball Championship after defeating No. 3 seeded Binghamton, 7-3, on Thursday afternoon at Bearcats Baseball Complex.  UMBC, who recorded their 30th victory for the first time since 2015, will next play against top-seeded Maine on Friday at 1:00 p.m.
 
Junior Luke Johnson, the 2023 America East Pitcher of the Year, pitched six strong innings, while senior catcher Tony Krueger and junior second baseman Anthony Swenda slugged homers in the Retrievers' five-run third inning.
 
Johnson improved to 7-1 on the season after scattering six hits over his 103-pitch outing. The right-hander allowed two runs, walked five batters and fanned five.
 
Senior center fielder Justin Taylor was on base all four times and went 2-for-2 (walk, hit by pitch), hit a pair of doubles and scored twice while freshman first baseman Leewood Molessa, the 2023 America East Rookie of the Year, went 2-for-4 with an RBI.
 
UMBC (30-25) scored a pair of two-out runs in the bottom of the first inning and never looked back as they pounced on right-handed starter Ryan Bryggman (4-5). Graduate student right fielder Ian Diaz singled to right field and advanced to second on a throwing error after Taylor was hit by a pitch. Junior designated hitter Luke Trythall then opened the scoring with an infield single to shortstop to plate Taylor. On the next pitch, Molessa delivered an RBI bloop single down the left field line to score Diaz.
 
The Retrievers expanded their lead to 7-0 in the bottom of the third as Krueger ripped a two-run dinger into the right-field bullpen, scoring Taylor who had doubled to open the frame. UMBC was not done, however, as Swenda demolished a two-out, 3-run blast to left to score Molessa (doubled) and sophomore third baseman Matt Ryan (reached on error).
 
The Bearcats (27-22) got one back in the top of the fourth as third baseman Devan Bade blooped a two-out RBI single to right field to bring in second baseman Nick Roselli (singled). They added their second run off Johnson in the sixth inning on a one-out RBI single by Bade.
 
Sophomore right-hander Nick Remy allowed a run in the top of the seventh on an RBI single by first baseman Kevin Gsell.
 
Freshman southpaw Ben Craig pitched a pair of perfect innings to close the door on the Bearcats.
 
UMBC is 2-4 against Maine this season. The Retrievers were swept by the Black Bears in Baltimore back in March and won two-of-three in Orono in early May.