VESTAL, N.Y. - Winners of four of their last five, Binghamton baseball (5-5, 5-5 America East) will host Albany (7-12, 5-7 AE) in a four-game set this weekend at downtown Rumbletown Stadium. The teams will play doubleheaders on Saturday and Sunday beginning at noon. All four games will be broadcast on America East TV. 

Binghamton has picked up its play after a delayed start to the spring season, and despite still having played fewer games than its conference foes, BU has started to show the form that had the team picked second in the preseason poll. 

Last weekend in Maine, the Bearcats shook off an opening-game defeat to win three straight, thanks to stellar pitching (1.69 ERA in series). Sophomore Jack Collins fired a complete-game, three-hit shutout with seven strikeouts. Thomas Babalis (10Ks) and Josh Kopcza (1 ER in 6 IP) also provided strong starts, freshman Justin Rosner earned a win with three 1-hit, shutout innings and fellow newcomer Kyle Eskildsen also notched a win with 4.0 effective relief innings.  

Offensively, Binghamton has been led by the play of left fielder Tommy Reifler, the reigning America East Rookie of the Week. Reifler leads the team and ranks sixth in the nation with a .478 average. He also ranks sixth in the country in on-base percentage (.571). Third baseman Justin Drpich is batting .367 and catcher TJ Wegmann has a .484 on-base percentage. Second baseman Alex Baratta leads the team with eight RBI.  

The Bearcats rank third in pitching in the America East (3.96 ERA), fifth in fielding (.966) and seventh in hitting (.245).

Albany is coming off a weekend split with UMBC and sit in fourth place in the Division "A" standings (the Bearcats are in second in Division "B"). The Great Danes began league play by taking three of four against NJIT but then dropped four straight to league favorite Stony Brook, surrendering 48 runs in the four games. Albany ranks second in the conference in fielding (.973) but is eighth in both hitting (.239) and pitching (7.56). 

The Great Danes have three all-conference players on their roster from 2019 (last full season) and were picked to finish fourth in the Coaches' Preseason Poll. Reigning second team selection Ray Weber is 4-0 with a 2.81 ERA pitching from the No. 1 spot. The offense is led by shortstop Brad Malm (.352, 11 RBI), catcher Josh Gurnack (.341) and second baseman Johnny Marti (.328, 14 RBI).  

Since both teams entered the America East in 2002, Binghamton leads the head-to-head series 46-35. Albany won three of five games during the 2019 regular season before BU got revenge in the conference tournament, walloping the second-seeded Great Danes 18-4 in a winners' bracket game at the Bearcats Baseball Complex. The last time the teams squared off at the downtown stadium was in 2006, when BU prevailed 4-2. Binghamton has gone 13-7 in the last 20 head-to-head games. 

Weekend Matchups
Saturday, April 10 - noon (DH)
Game 1 (7 inn.): LHP Thomas Babalis (B) (0-3, 5.40 ERA) vs. RHP Ray Weber (A) (4-0, 2.81 ERA) | Live Stats | Video
Game 2 (9 inn.): RHP Ryan Bryggman (B) (0-0, 5.14 ERA) vs. RHP Anthony Germinerio (A) (1-2, 5.00 ERA) | Live Stats | Video 

Sunday, April 11 - noon (DH)
Game 1 (7 inn.): RHP Jack Collins (B) (2-0, 0.53 ERA) vs. LHP Cregg Scherrer (A) (0-3, 7.32 ERA) | Live Stats | Video
Game 2 (9 inn.): RHP Josh Kopcza (B) (0-1, 1.64 ERA) vs. TBA (A) | Live Stats | Video