VESTAL, N.Y. - After opening up with 17 straight games on the road, Binghamton baseball will play its earliest home game during its Division I era when the Bearcats (3-14) welcome Bucknell (7-12) for a single game at 3 p.m. Tuesday at the Sports Complex.

Winners of three of the last seven America East titles, the Bearcats have been slow out of the gate in 2016 and have dropped seven of their last eight games. Over the weekend, BU took one of three at Penn after losing four to Delaware the previous series.

Senior second baseman Reed Gamache (3 HR, 16 RBI) and junior first baseman Brendan Skidmore (2 HR, 11 RBI) have shown their pop at the plate and senior third baseman David Schanz (22 hits, .373 on-base) continues to lead the team in hitting.

With the conference-opening series at Maine looming on the weekend, BU may be scripted with its pitching rotation. Freshman Nick Gallagher will make his second career start.          

Bucknell returns all eight position starters from a team that won 11 non-conference games and was one of just two Patriot League teams to finish above .500 (24-22). The program has 17 players still active from its 2014 NCAA regional team. This season, the Bison split a four-game series at James Madison, took two of three from Tennessee Tech and posted wins over Notre Dame (6-5, 11 inn.) and fellow America East member Maine (6-3). Over the weekend, Bucknell dropped three of four to Cornell and the team has now lost eight of its last 10 games.

Junior CF Brett Smith is hitting .333 with a team-high 10 RBI. Senior left fielder Alex O'Neill is hitting a team-high .361. The pitching staff has a 4.88 ERA. Binghamton native Mike Korchak has started 11 games and has a team-best two home runs.  

Bucknell leads the all-time series between the two schools 7-5. The Bison posted a 6-2 win in last year's encounter in Lewisburg, Pa. The last BU win in the series came in 2013 when the teams split a DH in Lewisburg. Last season, both teams preserved their weekend rotation by shuttlling in a combined 14 pitchers to the mound. Bucknell tallied four runs in the second inning to account for the winning margin.