VESTAL, N.Y. - America East leading Binghamton baseball (15-19, 10-2 AE), winners of 12 of their last 17 games, heads to Baltimore for a three-game weekend series with UMBC (17-16, 6-5 AE). The teams will play a doubleheader starting at 3 p.m. on Saturday and wrap up with a single game at 1 p.m. on Sunday.

The Bearcats are off to their best conference start in school history, having won 10 of 12 America East games to open up a two-game lead in the standings. The team's only conferecne losses were a pair of walk-off defeats at UMass Lowell two weekends ago. Last weekend, BU put one historic walk-off in the positive column after rallying from five down in the ninth inning to overtake Hartford 10-9. That win completed a three-game sweep of the Hawks, who entered the series as the highest-ranked team in the America East (RPI).

On Wednesday, BU split a non-conference twinbill with Marist, winning 15-7 before losing the nightcap 6-1.

Binghamton ranks third in the America East in batting (.280), seventh in pitching (5.72) and second in fielding (.979).

Individually, junior first baseman Brendan Skidmore ranks second in the conference in home runs (7) and third in RBI (28). Senior second baseman Reed Gamache, the reigning Player of the Week, is third in doubles (9) and fifth in RBI (27). Sophomore center fielder CJ Krowiak ranks third in both hits (45) and runs scored (30). Skidmore and Krowiak lead the Bearcats with identical .331 averages.

Junior Jake Cryts (3-3, 4.80 ERA) will start Game 1, senior Mike Bunal (3-3, 5.06 ERA) will pitch the seven-inning Game 2 and sophomore Jacob Wloczewski (2-0, 2.88 ERA) will pitch Sunday's finale. Bunal ranks second in the America East in strikeouts (8.81 per game) and third in innings pitched (48). Wloczewski ranks sixth in ERA.

The Retrievers lead the league with a .289 team batting average. UMBC is fifth in pitching ERA (5.00) and fourth in fielding (.969). Senior shortstop/DH Kevin Lachance leads the league in average (.389), hits (51), runs (36), on-base percentage (.481) and slugging (.588). Senior right fielder Anthony Gatto is hitting .361 and freshman third baseman Jamie Switalski ranks second in the AE in RBI with 29. Gatto aqnd Switalski were first team all-conference selections last spring when the Retrievers were tournament runnersup to Stony Brook.

On the hill, UMBC will start junior righty Cory Callahan (0-1, 2.16 ERA) in the opener, senior right-hander Conrad Wozniak (5-2, 2.98 ERA) in Game 2 and finish with freshman righty Jacob Christian (2-1, 3.90 ERA) on Sunday. Wozniak is the reigning America East Pitcher of the Year.

Binghamton leads the all-time Division I series between the two programs 40-12 but UMBC has won the last six games. Last season, the Retrievers swept three-game series' in Baltimore and Vestal. Four of the six games were decided by two or fewer runs.