VESTAL, N.Y. - Having won four of five to reach the .500 mark, Binghamton baseball (12-12) makes the short trip to Ithaca to play Cornell (7-16) at 3 p.m. Tuesday afternoon at Hoy Field. It's the first of three games this spring between the two regional neighbors. 

Binghamton won both games over the weekend, defeating Niagara (16-4) and Central Connecticut State (3-2) on its bye weekend away from America East play. The Bearcats collected double-digit hits in both games and received strong pitching performances from its top two starters. Now BU will look to snap a two-game losing skid in mid-week games, having lost close games at Penn State (5-3) and Bucknell (6-4) in successive weeks. 

The Bearcats are hitting .264 as a team and have a 4.64 pitching ERA. Junior second baseman Alex Baratta leads the team and ranks fourth in the America East with a .377 average. Sophomore center fielder Shane Marshall is hitting .314 with team-bests of 11 extra-base hits and 19 RBI. Marshall made one of the best defensive plays in recent memory on Saturday when he covered a lot of ground in left center, scaled the fence and robbed a Niagara player of a home run. Sophomore outfielder Andrew Eng went 5-for-6 with five RBI on the weekend. He is hitting .346.

Sophomore right-hander Luke Dziados (0-1, 3.14) gets the start against the Big Red. In his last outing at Bucknell, Dziados went 3.2 innings and only allowed one earned run in a no-decision. 

Cornell is coming off an 0-3 weekend against Ivy League foe Brown. The Big Red began the season 1-8 but have gone 6-8 since, including recent non-conference wins over Army and St. Bonaventure. The team is hitting .213 and has a 4.78 pitching ERA. Six-foot-6 freshman right-hander Luke Yacinich (2-3, 10.38) gets the start, though several pitchers are expected to see innings. 

Cornell leads the all-time series 21-16-1. The teams went 1-1-1 against each other last spring. The had to settle for a 5-5 tie on April 10 at Cornell (darkness), the Big Red won 12-3 on April 24 and BU countered with an 11-1 win on May 2.