VESTAL, N.Y. - Binghamton baseball continues a busy five-games-in-six-days stretch with a three-game weekend set at Albany. The Bearcats (13-7, 3-2 America East) and Great Danes (11-14, 3-6 AE) are set to play a single game at 3 p.m. Friday and then finish with a doubleheader on Saturday.

Binghamton  split two non-conference games this week, beating Penn State 6-3 before losing at Cornell 6-4 on Wednesday. The Bearcats have gone 13-4 in their last 17 games and sit in third place in the America East standings after taking two of three from UMBC last weekend.

Junior shortstop Paul Rufo leads the team with a .353 average and 19 RBI. Sophomore third baseman Justin Yurchak is hitting .342 and junior second baseman Luke Tevlin is at .333. Freshman infielder Justin Drpich has contributed 10 RBI and a .407 average in eight games off the bench.

Sophomore Nick Gallagher (3-1, 1.08 ERA) is BU's starter for Friday's opener. Gallagher has allowed just four earned runs in 33.1 innings and has a team-high 29 strikeouts. His ERA ranks eighth in the country. Junior lefty Nick Wegmann (2-3, 3.10 ERA) and redshirt junior Jacob Wloczewski (1-1, 4.64) are slated to pitch in Saturday's twinbill.

Albany is coming off a 16-5 win over Manhattan on Wednesday. The Great Danes began the season 7-5 but have gone 4-9 since. The team has played three conference weekend series' and has lost two of three games in each - including the three finales by a combined margin of 34-4.

Senior catcher Evan Harasta is hitting a team-best .337 with 14 RBI. Sophomore infielder Travis Collins has team-highs of four home runs and 20 RBI. Sophomore right-hander Brendan Smith (1-2, 4.06 ERA) is slated to start on Friday. Junior lefty Jack McClure (3-0, 1.61 ERA) gets the call in Saturday's DH opener and sophomore left-hander Kenny McLean (2-2, 5.59 ERA) and freshman left-hander David Hutchison (1-2, 5.85 ERA) are available on Saturday as well. The Great Danes are hitting .256 as a team and have a pitching ERA of 6.23.  

Albany leads the all-time series with Binghamton, which dates back to 1950, 60-51. Since both teams joined the America East in 2002, Binghamton leads 39-29 and the Bearcats have won six of the last seven meetings - all last season.