VESTAL, N.Y. - For the second time in as many weeks, Binghamton baseball will face a conference contender with NCAA aspirations when the Bearcats (0-3) travel to Boca Raton to meet Conference USA member Florida Atlantic (4-0) for a weekend series. The teams will play single games Friday night and Saturday and Sunday afternoons.

Binghamton opened its season with three losses at Wofford (S.C.) last weekend. After a lopsided Game 1, the Bearcats tightened up the scores and nearly had Sunday's finale before the host Terriers walked it off in the bottom of the ninth.

Offensively, senior catcher TJ Wegmann hit .429 and belted the team's first home run of the season - a 2-run shot in Game 3. Senior second baseman Alex Baratta had five hits (.427) and two doubles. Senior third baseman Justin Drpich went 4-for-5 with 3 RBI in Game 2.
 
The bullpen worked 15.1 innings in the three games and held down a 4.71 ERA. Most notable were relief outings from sophomore Ryan Bryggman (4.0 IP, 0 hits) and freshmen Douglas Goodwin (3.0 IP, 1 hit) and Dylan Gearhart (1.2 IP, 3K). 

Florida Atlantic was an NCAA tournament team last spring (41-21, No. 37 in RPI) and the Owls have kept up the strong play early this spring. They opened with a three-game sweep of Delaware and then defeated Florida Gulf Coast 6-4 on Tuesday. The team returns six field position starters, nine pitchers and 20 total letterwinners. Through four games, FAU is hitting .328 and has a stingy 3.38 pitching ERA. They have already hit five home runs and have 13 extra-base hits. The Owls received four first-place votes and were picked to finish second in the Conference USA this spring, just behind Southern Miss. The program has advanced to the NCAA regionals six times since 2010.   

Sophomore left fielder Mitch Hartigan was a 2019 Freshman All-American and is hitting .462 early this spring. Senior right fielder Bobby Morgensen had 11 home runs last spring and is 6-for-13 (.462) to start this season. Senior second baseman Francisco Urbaez collected 75 hits in 2019 and junior first baseman Andru Sjummerall led the team with 55 RBI.    

Weekend Matchups
Friday, Feb. 21 - 6:30 p.m.
LHP Thomas Babalis (B) (0-1, 23.14 ERA) vs. RHP Jacob Josey (FAU) (0-0, 2.25 ERA) | Live Video | Live Stats

Saturday, Feb. 22 - 4 p.m.
RHP Jack Collins (B) (0-1, 13.50 ERA) vs. LHP Matt Sparlling (FAU) (0-0, 0.00 ERA) | Live Video | Live Stats

Sunday, Feb. 23 - noon
RHP Josh Kopcza (B) (0-0, 12.00 ERA) vs. RHP Corey Ireson (FAU) (1-0, 4.50 ERA) | Live Video | Live Stats