VESTAL, N.Y. - Binghamton baseball (27-11, 12-4 America East) is closing in on the America East regular season crown but still needs one more win in its final three games to wrap it up. The Bearcats, who rank 19th in the nation in win percentage, host fourth-place Hartford (20-25, 8-10 AE) in a three-game set beginning with a twinbill at noon on Friday. The teams will open up with a nine-inning game followed by a seven-inning affair.

Despite dropping a pair of games Sunday at Stony Brook, the Bearcats are still in good position to clinch the program's sixth America East regular season title in the last 11 years with one more win (or a UMBC loss) over the weekend. The conference tournament begins next Wednesday in Lowell, Mass.

The Bearcats rank first in the America East and 27th in the country in ERA (3.54). Binghamton also ranks first in the conference in slugging (.441).

Junior center fielder CJ Krowiak (.321) and junior catcher Jason Agresti (.316) lead the team with 12 doubles. Agresti and senior outfielder Darian Herncane are tops with five home runs apiece. With the injury to senior all-conference first baseman Brendan Skidmore (team-high 31 RBI), BU has now lost three-fourths of its starting infield (Rufo, Tevlin, Skidmore). Sophomore third baseman Justin Yurchak ranks 11th in the country in walks (0.95/game). Freshman second baseman Justin Drpich is hitting a team-best .435 in conference play.

Starting on the mound today are sophomore Nick Gallagher (7-2, 2.41 ERA) in Game 1 and junior Jacob Wloczewski (3-1, 3.65 ERA) in the seven-inning nightcap. 

The Hawks have dropped three in a row — two vs. Albany last weekend and an 11-10 slugfest against CCSU on Wednesday. In league play, Hartford lost two of three against Stony Brook, Albany, Maine, Lowell and UMBC but swept three from Stony Brook  to climb up the standings.

The team is hitting .287 but has a pitching ERA of 7.60.

Junior all-conference catcher Erik Ostberg was among the nation's leaders in average (.500) and on-base percentage (.596) before suffering an injury in mid-April. He hasn't played in five weeks. Senior all-conference first baseman David MacKinnon is hitting .351. Sophomore outfielder Ashton Bardzell leads the team with a .355 average and 43 RBI.

Set to start on the hill are senior right-hander Brian Stepniak (3-3, 5.98) and freshman righty Nate Florence (1-4, 7.23 ERA).     

Binghamton holds a commanding 45-13 lead in the all-time series and has won the last six head-to-head meetings. The last time the teams met was May 27, 2016 at the America East tournament, when the Bearcats staged an epic ninth-inning rally to turn a 6-0 deficit into a walk-off 9-6 win en route to the team's fourth conference championship. The last Hartford win in Vestal came in 2014. Binghamton is 21-2 against Hartford at home since joining the America East in 2002.