Baseball and softball earn ECAC tournament invitations
Softball will host Mansfield Saturday in best 2-of-3 format for ECAC title 

Both the Binghamton University softball and baseball teams have extended their seasons with ECAC post-season invitations, the school learned Tuesday afternoon. The softball team earned the top seed in the two-team Mid-Atlantic Championship, and will host Mansfield University (Pa.) Saturday on BU’s East Gym field. The baseball team, meanwhile, will travel to Long Island for the three-team, double-elimination tournament hosted by top-seed Dowling College.

Binghamton softball (19-12-1), which had a regular-season doubleheader rained out against Mansfield, will face the Mounties (21-17) in a best 2-of-3 format. Saturday’s game times are 11 a.m., 1 p.m. and 3 p.m. if necessary.

Baseball (23-18) is the third seed, and will face second-seeded Franklin Pierce College (N.H.) in Friday’s opening game at 9 a.m. The Ravens (21-17-1) swept a doubleheader from BU on April 15, winning both games by identical 9-2 scores. Dowling (30-16), which is in the hunt for an NCAA tournament berth, will play both teams Friday afternoon, taking on the game one loser at noon, and the winner at 3 p.m. Saturday’s first game begins at 11 a.m., with the second game, if necessary, starting immediately following. All games will be played at the off-campus PAL Sports Complex in Holbrook.

For coach Holly Brown’s softball program, the ECAC bid is the sixth straight post-season invitation. Binghamton went to the NCAA Division III tournament from 1995-98, and advanced to the same ECAC Division II Mid-Atlantic Championship last spring — bowing out in two games to Pace and Dowling.

The baseball invitation is the program’s fourth ECAC berth in the last six years under coach Tim Sinicki — the first bid as a Division II program. Binghamton captured the 1997 ECAC Division III Upstate New York title. The Bearcats, 19-13 against Division II competition, closed the regular-season by winning 10 of their last 11 games. The 10-game win streak tied a 22-year old school record.

Saturday, May 13 (best 2-of-3)
Game 1 — #1 Binghamton (19-12-1) vs. #2 Mansfield (Pa.) (21-17) — 11 a.m.
Game 2 — same two teams — 1 p.m.
Game 3 — same two teams (if necessary) — 3 p.m.

Friday, May 12 (double elimination)
Game 1 — #3 Binghamton (23-18) vs. #2 Franklin Pierce (N.H.) (21-17-1) - 9 a.m.
Game 2 — Game 1 loser vs. #1 Dowling (30-16) — noon
Game 3 — Game 1 winner vs. Dowling — 3 p.m.

Saturday, May 13
Game 4 — Two remaining teams play — 11 a.m.
Game 5 — if necessary — immediately following Game 4

NOTE: If all three teams have identical 1-1 records after Friday’s competition, a coin flip will determine which two will meet in Saturday’s 11 a.m. game. The coin flip “winner” will advance directly to the championship game, and play the winner of Saturday’s first game.