VESTAL, N.Y. - Binghamton baseball plays its third-to-last regular season conference series this weekend when the second-place Bearcats (18-19, 8-6 America East) travel to Baltimore to face seventh-place UMBC (20-23, 6-12 AE). The teams will play a doubleheader beginning at noon on Saturday and finish with a single game at noon on Sunday.

The Bearcats can clinch a postseason berth by winning the series. The top six teams advance to the double-elimination America East tournament, which Binghamton will host on May 22-26. 

After two sluggish midweek losses to St. Bonaventure (1-0) and Cornell (5-2), BU will look to regain the form that produced four straight conference wins - victories that bumped the team up into second place in the standings. 

Binghamton is hitting .265 (second in AE) and leads the league with a 4.39 pitching ERA. 

Junior second baseman Alex Baratta is second in the conference with a .379 average. He had a 16-game hit streak snapped last weekend and is hitting .423 against America East opponents. Junior left fielder Daniel Franchi hit .389 in the month of April and is the University's reigning Athlete of the Week. Sophomore center fielder Shane Marshall returned to the lineup this week and is hitting .464 in league play. 

The Bearcats will stick to their usual weekend pitching rotation of senior right-hander Nick Gallagher (2-4, 4.67 ERA), junior right-hander Ben Anderson (7-2, 2.29 ERA) and freshman lefty Thomas Babalis (3-1, 3.41 ERA). 

UMBC ranks fourth in the conference in both hitting (.261) and pitching (6.05). The Retrievers also lost two non-conference games during the week - to La Salle (9-5) and Georgetown (6-1). Two weeks ago at home, UMBC took two of three from Hartford. Last weekend, they dropped two of three to league-leading Stony Brook, though the rubber game defeat came in 11 innings. 

The Retrievers will counter with freshmen right-handers Cooper Adams (0-2, 4.83) and Nick Trabacchi (2-4, 6.56 ERA) in the first two games. 

Binghamton leads the all-time series 46-18, though UMBC has won four of the last six and 12 of the last 18. Last year, the Retrievers won two of three at home. 

Weekend Details
Saturday, May 4 - Doubleheader
Game 1 (noon): RHP Nick Gallagher (2-4, 4.67 ERA) vs. RHP Cooper Adams (0-2, 4.83 ERA) Live Video | Live Stats
Game 2 (7 inn.) (approx. 3:15 p.m.): RHP Ben Anderson (7-2, 2.29 ERA) vs. Nick Trabacchi (2-4, 6.56 ERA) Live Video | Live Stats

Sunday, May 5 - noon
LHP Thomas Babalis (3-1, 3.41 ERA) vs. TBA | Live Video | Live Stats