VESTAL, N.Y. - Binghamton baseball heads into its second-to-last conference series when the Bearcats (24-17, 10-8 America East) face Bryant (23-19, 10-8 AE) in a weekend battle of teams tied in the standings. The two third-place teams will meet Friday, Saturday and Sunday afternoons at Conaty Park in Smithfield, R.I. 

There are just six games remaining in the regular season before BU hosts the America East tournament on May 24-27. The Bearcats have already clinched a postseason berth but are still jockeying with Bryant and others for seeding. The second through fifth-place teams are all separated by just two games in the loss column with each having an eye on the No. 2 seed, which carries a first round bye. Binghamton parlayed that bye into a championship last spring.

The Bearcats took two of three at Albany last weekend - their first series win in the last four conference weekends. Binghamton is hitting .293 as a team (second in AE), leads the league with a 5.45 pitching ERA and also leads with a .979 fielding percentage. At the plate, BU continues to ride the hitting of sophomore second baseman Nick Roselli, junior outfielder Tommy Reifler and senior first baseman Kevin Gsell. Roselli is coming off a huge weekend that featured two home runs, eight RBI and a .462 series average. He ranks third in the conferene with 51 RBI - the highest Binghamton total in 15 years. In conference play, Roselli is hitting .408 (4th) with 24 RBI in 18 games (3rd). He is hitting .389 over his last 33 games.

Reifler continues to hover around the .400 hitting mark and currently has a share of the conference lead at .396. Gsell is batting .352, good for fifth in the America East.

On the hill, junior right-hander Gabe Driscoll is the lone America East weekend starter still unbeaten (6-0). He ranks fourth in ERA (3.66). Number one starter Thomas Babalis is fourth with 60 strikeouts. In conference play, senior closer Jack Collins is 2-0 with three saves and a paltry 1.00 ERA. 

Bryant ranks fourth in the conference in hitting (.263), and third in both pitching (6.06 ERA) and fielding (.968). Senior second baseman Jake Gustin leads the team with a .351 average (seventh in AE). Senior outfielder Derek Smith is hitting .335 with team-highs of nine home runs and 39 RBI (sixth in AE).    

In the first-ever meeting between the two teams back on March 31-April 2 in Vestal, BU won the opener 16-1 before teams split a doubleheader with Bryant winning 6-4 and the Bearcats countering in the series finale 6-4.  

Projected Weekend Matchups
Friday, May 12 - 3 p.m.  
LHP Thomas Babalis (BU) (3-4, 4.64 ERA) vs. RHP Coleman Picard (2-1, 3.58 ERA) | ESPN+ | Live Stats

Saturday, May 13 - 1 p.m.  
Game 1: RHP Gabe Driscoll (BU) (6-0, 3.66 ERA) vs. RHP Brett Wichrowski (5-1, 3.14 ERA) | ESPN3 | Live Stats

Sunday, May 14 - 1 p.m.
Game 2: RHP Ryan Bryggman (BU) (4-3, 6.46 ERA) vs. RHP Ken Turner (2-3, 5.66 ERA) | ESPN+ | Live Stats