VESTAL, N.Y. – Two-time defending America East champion Binghamton baseball will open its 2015 season at SEC member Auburn. The Bearcats will start their 55-game spring slate with the three-game set on February 13-15 in Alabama.
The Auburn series kicks off six consecutive weeks of road travel for BU, which will play its first 25 games away from home before hosting America East foe UMass Lowell on April 4-5. Binghamton plays a three-game series at CAA power William & Mary on February 20-22 – the first of three straight weekend trips to the state of Virginia. The Tribe won 34 games before falling in the conference championship game last spring.
Three-game sets at Radford and VMI precede BU’s conference-opening series at Stony Brook on March 14-15.
“Our first four weekends of non-conference play are both exciting and quite challenging,” 23th-year head coach Tim Sinicki said. “Quality opponents from the SEC, Big South, Colonial and Southern Conference will certainly give us a chance to see where we are as a team heading into America East Conference play.”
After the Stony Brook series, the Bearcats continue non-conference play closer to home with a three-game set at Villanova (March 20-22), a twinbill at Bucknell and then a trip to State College to face Big Ten member Penn State on March 31.
After the home-opening series against Lowell to begin the month of April, the Bearcats will continue in-state rivalries against Cornell (April 7, 22), Canisius (April 8), Marist (April 15), St. Bonaventure (April 28) and Siena (May 5) and will add a three-game set at New York Institute of Technology (April 25-26) on their off-weekend from conference play.
The America East slate will again be a 24-game schedule (eight three-game series’). In the uneven seven-team format, BU will see its strongest rival Stony Brook six times (home and home), including on the final weekend of the regular season as teams are jockeying for postseason berths.
The schedule culminates with the four-team America East Championship, which will be contested at Lowell’s LeLacheur Park for a third straight season. The double-elimination tournament will be held on May 20-23.
“From top to bottom the America East continues to improve each and every year,” Sinicki said. “All the coaching staffs are doing a great job recruiting and developing players, and it’s making the conference balanced, competitive and a wide-open race late in the season.”
Sinicki’s 2015 squad will be in the hunt for a third-straight conference title and accompanying NCAA berth. The Bearcats have won three of the last six America East championships, including the memorable 2014 title. Last spring, BU battled back from the brink of elimination with four straight tournament wins, capped by the team’s 8-7 12-inning victory over Stony Brook in the championship game.
