Having led Binghamton to six NCAA Regional berths since 2009, including two in the last four springs, Tim Sinicki enters his 34th season at the helm in 2026. He is the longest-tenured coach in Binghamton University history and also owns the longest tenure at one school among any current NCAA Division I baseball coach. Sinicki has consistently positioned the Bearcats among the elite teams in the America East and the Northeast.
Last spring was one of Sinicki's most masterful seasons in player development and in-game maneuvering. His Bearcats rode an unprecedented offensive surge to the program's second America East title and NCAA Regional berth in the last four years. Mired deep in the conference standings in mid-April after losing its top two starting pitchers to injury, Binghamton went 15-7 down the stretch and unloaded on opponents at the America East Championship before dethroning regular season champion and heavy favorite Bryant in a dramatic winner-take-all finale. During that key 22-game stretch to close the regular season and conference tournament, the Bearcats averaged 8.5 runs and achieved an America East first when the top five hitters in the Binghamton lineup all were named first team all-conference. The third-seeded Bearcats then began a week-long stay in Orono, Maine for the tournament. It began with a 14-8 elimination game victory over UMBC and followed with explosive wins over NJIT (15-10) and UAlbany (21-6). Binghamton became the first team in conference history to score 12+ runs in three straight tournament games. With its taxed pitching staff on the brink after a loss to Bryant in the first championship game, the Bearcats responded with a scintillating 6-5 extra-innings win to clinch the title and send the team to Athens for the NCAA Regionals.
Sinicki's teams have advanced to the America East championship round four times in the last six years, including title in 2022 and 2025 and a runnerup showing in 2023.
Under his stewardship, Binghamton christened its new $60 million complex in March 2022, used an 11-win month of April to get in playoff position and then rode a big offensive wave to capture the program's fifth America East title and with it, another trip to the NCAA Regionals. His Bearcats averaged nearly eight runs a game in the month of May and went 3-0 at the America East tournament as the No. 2 seed, earning a trip to Stanford for the NCAA Regionals.
The conference title was BU's fourth championship in the last nine years - double the number of titles of any other current conference member. With Sinicki's reputation and leadership playing key roles, the program opened its state-of-the-art new baseball stadium complex. The 84,000-square-foot facility includes an expansive clubhouse, indoor training facility and dozens of other amenities. It's been touted by national baseball writers as the finest such facility in the Northeast and one of the best in the entire nation. An adjacent indoor training fieldhouse opened in December 2024 to further enhance the complex.
Sinicki's Bearcats have captured a combined 12 conference regular season and tournament titles in the last 18 years - the most of any program in the America East. In addition, the program has produced 10 MLB draft picks in the last 12 years.
His teams advanced to NCAA Regionals in 2009, 2013, 2014, 2016, 2022 and 2025.
Sinicki has been named the America East Coach of the Year six times (2005, 2007, 2009, 2010, 2016, 2017) and has more than 700 career wins under his belt.
His 2019 squad featured a 13th-round MLB draft pick and America East Pitcher of the Year (Ben Anderson), six all-conference selections, three postseason wins and an America East runnerup finish.
In 2017, the Bearcats won a school-record 30 regular season games and were rated as high as No. 41 in the country (out of 299). The team's 30-13 final record was 15th-best in the country (win percentage of 70%).
Sinicki's squad swept nationally-ranked ACC foe Virginia Tech in a four-game set and went nearly three months without losing back-to-back games. The pitching ERA (3.50) was 14th-lowest in the country.
In 2016 and 2017, BU went 34-9 against America East opponents and the team's home win percentage (30-5, 86%) ranked second in the nation during that span.
In 2016, BU completed the America East "double" by winning the regular season and tournament titles. Sinicki's Bearcats then battled No. 1 Texas A&M and Big Ten champion Minnesota in two narrow NCAA Regional defeats.
The Bearcats went a dominating 19-5 against America East foes and were the last unbeaten team at home in the entire country, losing in their regular-season finale after starting the spring 14-0 on home soil. Binghamton ended the regular season by going 28-10.
At the conference tournament, BU rolled over Albany and then registered an epic comeback that hadn't been seen before at the America East tournament. Binghamton scored nine runs in the ninth inning to erase a 6-0 deficit and stun Hartford. One day later, BU dispatched Stony Brook to complete the AE double and win the program's fourth crown in the last eight years - the most of any AE team during that span.
None of the tournament appearances or advancement was more impressive than the run of Sinicki's 2014 squad. That team shook off an assortment of key injuries and staged an improbable run through the consolation bracket of the America East Championship, staving off elimination in four consecutive games. Despite having 40 percent of its roster unavailable for postseason, BU became the first team in the 25-year history of the conference to win four straight games, including back-to-back against the top seed.
After winning the America East crown with a dramatic 8-7 walk-off win over Stony Brook, BU played at the NCAA Stillwater Regional and held its own in losses to seventh-ranked Oklahoma State and 19th-ranked Nebraska.
In 2013, BU captured its second America East postseason title and advanced to the NCAA Regional. The Bearcats won 30 games, landed five on the all-conference team and garnered a league-high four all-academic honorees. After defeating Maine twice and outscoring opponents 24-8 during the conference championship, BU advanced to the NCAA Regionals. Down in Raleigh, the Bearcats held their own against two nationally-ranked opponents, compiling 18 hits and recording 16 pitching strikeouts in a pair of narrow defeats to No. 7 NC State and No. 23 Ole Miss.
Despite playing every game on the road in 2012 as the team’s home facility was being refurbished, BU placed third in the conference and advanced to the America East tournament. Two more Sinicki pitching proteges - Mike Augliera and Lee Sosa - garnered first team all-conference honors and were taken in the MLB Draft. Augliera went in the fifth round - the highest pick in program history. Meanwhile, up in Minneapolis, another Sinicki pitching standout Scott Diamond made headlines with a 12-win season for the Twins.
In 2010, BU won its fourth straight America East regular season title - the second-longest streak in conference history. The team’s 21-3 league record represented the third-highest win percentage (.875) in 18 years of America East annals and the three losses were the fewest of any team in 12 years. The Bearcats won a school-record 31 games and extended their NCAA record by improving the team’s win total for a seventh consecutive season. The team then earned a final regional ranking of No. 6 (out of 68) in the PING! Northeast Rankings.
After guiding BU to its third straight America East regular season championship in 2009, Sinicki engineered an historic postseason run that included the school’s first-ever baseball conference crown, NCAA appearance and NCAA victory.
The Bearcats’ school-record 30th victory was memorable — an 11-6 win over George Mason in the NCAA Regional. The Patriots had entered the postseason with the second-highest win percentage of any team in the country (78%) and BU’s victory was just the third time in 14 years that the America East champion had produced an NCAA victory.
Diamond capped a rapid run through the minor leagues with a mid-summer call-up to the Minnesota Twins in 2011. Diamond made seven starts for the Twins and recorded his milestone first MLB win with six strong innings against the Chicago White Sox on August 31. In 2012, he led the club in wins, ERA and strikeouts and was named the organization’s Pitcher and Rookie of the Year. Diamond was enshrined into Binghamton’s Hall of Fame in 2013.
Smith was selected by the Oakland Athletics in the 13th round of the 2009 MLB Amateur Draft and made his MLB debut with the Toronto Blue Jays on August 27, 2018.
Sinicki began his collegiate playing career as a freshman all-conference pitcher at Binghamton in 1985. One year later, he was named to the All-Region III team while pitching at nearby Broome Community College, where he was tabbed by the Pittsburgh Pirates in the Major League Baseball amateur draft.
He finished his playing career at Western Carolina University in Cullowhee, N.C., where the Catamounts captured back-to-back Southern Conference titles and competed in the NCAA Division I Championship both seasons. In two seasons, Sinicki compiled 15 wins, including a team-leading nine as a senior.
He graduated from Western Carolina in 1988 with a bachelor’s degree in business administration.
Sinicki began as a three-sport high school standout at Binghamton-area Johnson City High and was inducted into that school’s Hall of Fame in 2010. He lettered in baseball, football and basketball, steering the baseball team to a pair of divisional titles and the football program to sectional titles and top-10 state rankings in each of his final two seasons. In 2022, Sinicki was inducted into the Greater Binghamton Sports Hall of Fame and in 2025, he was elected to the Binghamton Baseball Shrine.
Tim resides in Vestal with his wife, Tina, and the couple have three children: Allison, Tanner and Ashley.
