VESTAL, N.Y. - Host and No. 3 seed Binghamton baseball (26-21) begins its quest for back-to-back America East titles when the Bearcats face No. 6 NJIT (22-30) at 5 p.m. Wednesday at the Complex. The six-team, four-day tournament begins earlier with No. 4 Bryant meeting No. 5 UMass Lowell at 1 p.m. Both Day 1 games are single elimination in the new championship format. The two winners will advance to the traditional four-team, double-elimination bracket on Thursday through Saturday.

"You have to win Wednesday to get to Thursday," 31-year head coach Tim Sinicki said. "It will be all-hands-on-deck. It does come into play knowing you aren't guaranteed a second game and a shot to run it back through the loser's bracket. We will play the hand we dealt ourselves (No. 3 seed) and do the best we can."

The matchup will the fourth meeting between the two teams this season. Back on April 21-23 in Union, N.J., NJIT won two of three games, 1-0 and 4-3 before the Bearcats grabbed the final 7-2. 

With a win, BU would advance to a 3 p.m. game Thursday against No. 2 UMBC. A loss would end the Bearcats' season.

Tournament Notes ...

REIGNING CHAMP BU RETURNS TO TOURNEY FOR 14th TIME IN 18 YEARS
Defending champion Binghamton returns to the championship for the 14th time in the last 18 years. The Bearcats earned the No. 3 seed afer tying for third in the final standings. 

NEW TOURNAMENT FORMAT
The format has changed for the 2023 America East tournament. The same number of teams qualify as last year (6) but the first two games (4-vs-5 and 3-vs-6) will be single-elimination games. Then the remaining four teams will take part in the traditional double-elimination format. 

BEARCATS VS. TOURNAMENT FIELD
Binghamton is 10-11 vs. the tournament field this season. Binghamton is 4-2 vs. UML, 3-3 vs. Bryant and 1-2 vs. Maine, UMBC and NJIT.  

BU OPENS AGAINST NJIT AGAIN
For the second straight postseason, BU will face NJIT in its opening game. Last May up in Orono, Maine, the second-seeded Bearcats set records galore with a 20-5 win over the third-seeded Highlanders. That win came after BU dropped two of three against NJIT in the regular season — same as this season. NJIT will look to replicate its series-opening 1-0 win on April 21, when all-conference starter (Ryan Fischer) tossed 8.0 shutout innings in a 1-0 win. The Bearcats will try to solve Fischer again on Wednesday.         

LAST TIME BU HOSTED TOURNEY
Back in 2019, Binghamton hosted the tournament and finished runnerup to champion Stony Brook. The third-seeded Bearcats won three games to reach the championship round, where they lost to the top-seeded Seawolves 7-5. Stony Brook beat BU 5-4 in a winner's bracket game a day earlier.  

ELEVEN TITLES IN 16 YEARS
Binghamton has won a combined 11 America East regular season and tournament titles in the last 16 years - the most of any team in the conference during that span. The Bearcats won four straight regular season crown between 2007-10 and then won back-to-back in 2016 and 2017. The team's four postseason tournament titles came in 2009, 2013, 2014, 2016 and 2022.  

SINICKI A MAINSTAY
Head coach Tim Sinicki is wrapping up his 31st year managing the Bearcats. He is the longest-tenured coach at the University and has seen the team through its Division III, II and now Division I tenures. A six-time America East Coach of the Year (2005, 2007, 2009, 2010, 2016, 2017), he enters the postseason with 676 career victories. His tenure at Binghamton is the sixth longest current stint with one team in NCAA Division I baseball.

BU AS THE NO. 3 SEED
Binghamton is the No. 3 seed for the fifth time (2011, 2012, 2014, 2019) and is 8-7 all-time with the seed. The Bearcats captured the 2014 title with the No. 3 seed and were runnerup in the 2019 tournament as the No. 3 seed — which also was the last time BU hosted the event. 

REIFLER, DRISCOLL NAMED ALL-CONFERENCE
Juniors Tommy Reifler and Gabe Driscoll were named first all-conference selections. They were the lone Bearcats selected as it was the first time BU didn't get a second team selection in 22 years of membership. Reifler leads the league in average (.377) and Driscoll leads in wins (7). It's the first all-conference honor for each.  

BEARCATS CONFERENCE RECORD DIMINISHED BY RASH OF 1-RUN LOSSES
On the surface, the Bearcats' 12-12 conference record this season looks rather pedestrian, given the team's No. 1 preseason pick as reigning America East champions. But the regular season could've looked much different were it not for eight conference losses by the slimmest of margins. In all this season, BU has lost 11 games by just one run — the most one-run losses in the last 15 years. The 2008 team lost 11 one-run games.   


ROSELLI SURGING, PRODUCES EXCEPTIONAL SEASON
Sophomore second baseman Nick Roselli, an unfortunate omission from the all-conference team, is perhaps the hottest hitter in the conference right now. The No. 3 hitter is batting .369 with 59 RBI — both figures rank third in the conference. Against America East pitching, he is hitting .416 (2nd) with 32 RBI (2nd) in 24 games. Those numbers are second only to Player of the Year Jeremiah Jenkins of Maine. Roselli will carry a 15-game hit streak into the postseason, tied for the fifth-longest in program history. He is hitting .429 with 26 RBI during the streak. After a slow first 11 games in February-March, he has hit .410 over the last 2.5 months (36 games). Roselli's 59 RBI are second only to Hall of Famer Corey Taylor, who tallied 66 in 2010.     

BEARCATS TOP FIELDING TEAM IN CONFERENCE
Binghamton has committed just 33 errors in 47 games (.980) and that fielding percentage ranks 22nd in the country. The BU program record for fielding percentage is .979 set by the 2016 AE title team. 

WHO ELSE IS HOT?
Sophomore third baseman Devan Bade has finished the regular season strong. Bade is 11-of-23 (.478) with 10 RBI in his last five games and is coming off a huge weekend at UMass Lowell. At LeLacheur Park, he went 8-for-14 with nine RBI in the three-game set, including five RBI in Saturday's 14-13 loss.  

FRESHMAN STELLRECHT IN AT SHORT
Freshman Mike Stellrecht has moved into the starting role at shortstop in the last two weeks. He has hit safely in five straight games (.318) and is batting .279 with 13 RBI this season. In the field, he has only committed one error in 59 chances.  

BEARCATS HOPE ANOTHER .500 AE SEASON TURNS INTO A TITLE
Last season, BU went 15-15 and dropped three of its last five heading into the America East tournament, which it won with three straight victories as the No. 2 seed. This season, BU also posted a .500 mark in conference play (12-12) and has dropped four of its last six. 

TOP TWO SEEDS HISTORICALLY CONTROL TOURNEY
Whether it's the first-round bye, head-to-head matchups or elite talent level, the top two seeded teams have historically fared the best in this tournament, whether it was a four-team or six-team event. Either the No. 1 or No. 2 seed has won each of the last seven tournaments and 14 overall of the 20 that have been played since Binghamton joined the America East in 2002. The LAST non-top-two seed to win it all was third-seeded Binghamton in 2014. The No. 3 seed has won four titles and the No. 4 seed have won it twice. The last time a No. 4 seed won it all was 18 years ago (Stony Brook in 2004). 

HOST ROLE DOESN'T ALWAYS EQUATE WITH WINNING
Hosting the event rarely translates into winning the title. The last four hosts came up short, including back-to-back top seeds (Stony Brook in 2021 and Maine in 2022). Accepting that the tournament was played at neutral locations for seven years, the host school has only won it three times in 20 years — the last being Stony Brook in 2012. The other host champions were Maine in 2002 and Binghamton in 2009.    

SNYDER EMERGING AS VITAL BULLPEN OPTION
Left-handed graduate reliever Tommy Snyder (3-1, 3.27 ERA) hasn't allowed a run in 10 straight innings spanning three appearances. He worked 4.2 scoreless innings against Bryant on May 12 and then pitched 5.0 shutout innings to get the win in last Friday's 11-9 win at UMass Lowell.Snyder has the lowest ERA of any America East reliever with at least 30 IP.     
 
REIFLER COULD BE SECOND STRAIGHT BEARCAT TO LEAD AE IN BATTING
After graduated shortstop Jake Evans hit .381 to lead the conference last spring, junior center fielder Tommy Reifler is bidding to become the second Bearcat in as many years to win the batting title. After losing his starting spot last spring, Reifler came back with a vengeance this spring and has been hovering around the .400 mark for 2+ months. He entered April hitting .438, began May at .402 and currently sits at .377. He hasn't had back-to-back hitless games since late February and has just 17 strikeouts in 159 at-bats (once every 9+ PA)   
 
BEARCATS SHOW OFF NEW $60 MILLION STADIUM, CLUBHOUSE
On March 18, 2022 BU played its first game at its new stadium complex, which was built after the University received a record-setting $60 million anonymous alumnus gift. In addition to the existing turf field, the complex includes 1,906-seat bowl seating, 11,000+ square-foot, two-story press box, VIP suites and fan amenities areas. Adjacent to the stadium is a 38,000-square-foot, two-story team clubhouse, which includes locker rooms, training room, weight room, academic and study areas, video room and a nearly 12,000-square-foot turf practice area with batting and pitching tunnels. The team 1,138 fan for the opening home game on March 18 and then drew a record 1,906 fans for the official "grand opening" on April 29. Despite temperatures well below 50 degrees for many of the March and April home dates, BU drew an average of 480 fans during its 20-game home slate.