VESTAL, N.Y. - Binghamton baseball hits the road for its first away conference series in three weeks when the Bearcats (14-15, 4-4 America East) play a three-game set at UMass Lowell (7-26, 4-8 AE) this holiday weekend. With rain expected to play a role, the teams will begin their Friday doubleheader at 11 a.m. at LeLacheur Park. The third game of the series is scheduled for Saturday but could possibly be pushed back to Sunday if rain renders the natural surface at LeLacheur unplayable. 

Binghamton has dropped two straight after winning four of its previous five. After losing two of three against first-place Stony Brook last weekend at home, BU dropped a non-conference game to Marist on Wednesday, 11-5. The 11 runs were the most BU pitching has surrendered since the second weekend of the season (Feb. 24 at ODU).

The Bearcats are hitting .263 (2nd in AE) and have a league-best pitching ERA of 4.68. 

Junior second baseman Alex Baratta leads the team and ranks third in the conference with a .371 average. He also has 21 RBI in 22 starts - one behind team leader Sean Trenholm (.321, 22 RBI). Junior outfielder Daniel Franchi is hitting .330 with a team-high 25 runs. Franchi made two spectacular defensive plays in center field against Marist, earning the spotlight on the NCAA Baseball twitter page. The Bearcats continue to play without injured sophomore center fielder Shane Marshall (.330, 21 RBI), who leads the team in hits and extra-base hits. 

Senior Nick Gallagher (1-3, 4.30 ERA) and junior Ben Anderson (6-1, 1.94 ERA) continue to anchor BU's starting rotation. Gallagher struck out seven in 6.0 innings last Saturday against Stony Brook and came within two outs of a win before settling for a no-decision when the Seawolves rally to win the game in extra innings. He has 43 strikeouts in 44 innings. Anderson, who leads the America East in wins, strikeouts (66) and ERA, will start the seven-inning Game 2. Last Saturday, he blanked Stony Brook in a complete-game win. In his last six starts, Anderson is 6-0 with a 0.71 ERA. 

UMass Lowell began the season 0-11 after enduring a rough schedule of six games against nationally top-10 schools plus four more against an Arizona team that put up 69 runs in four games against UML pitching to open the 2019 season. The River Hawks then played a three-game set against Big Ten member Penn State and another game vs. a ranked UConn program. In conference play, UML took two of three against UMBC, dropped two of three to both Hartford and Albany and then last weekend, lost all three at Maine.     

The River Hawks rank sixth in the AE in hitting (.245) and last in pitching (8.45 ERA), though that pitching number is inflated due to the Arizona series.

After finishing second in the 2018 AE regular season, UML was picked third in this spring's preseason poll (BU was picked sixth). 

Binghamton has won eight of the last 10 head-to-head games. Last spring, BU swept a three-game set in Vestal. 

Weekend Schedule
Friday, April 19 (DH at 11 a.m.)
RHP Nick Rand (2-5, 5.17 ERA) vs. RHP Nick Gallagher (1-3, 4.30 ERA)
RHP Connor Metelski (1-5, 11.47 ERA) vs. RHP Ben Anderson (6-1, 1.94 ERA)
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Saturday, April 20 (noon) TENTATIVE
TBD vs. LHP Thomas Babalis (2-1, 4.88 ERA)
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