VESTAL, N.Y. - With just two conference series' remaining in the regular season, Binghamton baseball (13-25-1, 7-11 America East) is in a battle to reach the postseason. The Bearcats will face the team directly in front of them when BU travels to Orono to meet Maine (12-28, 6-9 AE) in a weekend series. The teams will play a doubleheader beginning at noon on Saturday and then will finish with a single game at 11 a.m. Sunday at Mahaney Diamond. All three games will be broadcast on ESPN3.

Binghamton is currently in seventh place in the standings, 1.5 games behind the Black Bears. Only the top six teams will advance to the America East Championship, held at Mahaney Diamond on May 23-26. The Bearcats host second-place UMBC next weekend and then have a conference bye on the final weekend of the regular season (but play at CCSU) as the other league teams catch up in their 24-game America East schedules. Binghamton has won the regular season title in each of the last two seasons and was picked to win it again this spring. Head coach Tim Sinicki's program has advanced to the NCAA Regional three times in the last five years (2013, 2014, 2016).    

The Bearcats had won just once in a recent 12-game stretch before capturing three straight wins. After taking the last game of a home series against Stony Brook, BU posted a pair of non-conference wins this week (4-3 over St. Bona and 11-1 over Cornell).

The team's pitching ERA has dropped to a conference-best 4.80 and the offense has sparked of late but the team batting average of .243 still ranks last in the conference. On the team's current three-game win streak, however, BU is averaging 7.6 runs.

Freshman outfielder Andrew Eng has taken over the team lead with a .318 average in 17 games played. Senior first baseman Luke Tevlin is hitting .311 and junior outfielder Anthony Meduri is at .302 with 10 extra-base hits and 14 RBI. Senior shortstop Paul Rufo leads the team with 22 RBI and senior catcher Jason Agresti has 20 RBI. 

Maine is coming off a 24-5 throttling of UMass on Wednesday. In that game, the Black Bears amassed 26 hits - 14 of them for extra bases. In conference play, Maine is coming off a three-game sweep at the hands of UMBC. The Black Bears have dropped seven of their last nine league games. The team is hitting .265 (third in AE) and has a pitching ERA of 6.01 (last in AE). 

Sophomore first baseman Hernen Sardinas leads the Black Bears with a .310 average. He has six home runs and 30 RBI. Junior second baseman Danny Casals leads the team with 10 home runs and 32 RBI. The Black Bears lead the league with 33 home runs and have stolen 48 bases (compared to BU's 28).   

Binghamton has won eight of the last 10 head-to-head meetings but Maine still leads the all-time series 34-32. The Bearcats swept a three-game set in Vestal last April before Maine got its revenge at the America East tournament, eliminating top-seeded BU 8-3. 

MATCHUPS
Saturday, May 5 (DH at noon)
Game 1: RHP Nick Gallagher (2-6, 5.51 ERA) vs. LHP Trebbor DeLaite (1-1, 7.76 ERA) Live Video | Live Stats | Live Audio
Game 2: LHP Nick Wegmann (3-6, 4.12 ERA) vs. RHP John Arel (4-2, 4.05 ERA) Live Video | Live Stats | Live Audio

Sunday, May 6 (11 a.m.)
RHP Jacob Wloczewski (2-5, 6.02 ERA) vs. RHP Cody Laweryson (0-3, 4.31 ERA) Live Video | Live Stats | Live Audio