AP Sports Preview

ALBANY, N.Y. (Interstat) — The Maine Black Bears and Binghamton Bearcats meet Friday at Varsity Field in a neutral‑site non‑conference game, with both teams looking to build momentum as the regular season winds down.

Maine (22‑30) enters after a 5‑4 win Thursday at Maryland‑Baltimore County, its third victory in four games. The Black Bears have won six of their last 10 overall, but they face a Binghamton squad that owns the better record at 29‑20 and is coming off a 3‑0 shutout of Massachusetts‑Lowell on Thursday.

Friday’s forecast calls for clear skies and temperatures in the mid‑70s at first pitch, which is scheduled for the afternoon at the neutral venue in New York’s capital.

The matchup features two pitchers who have been key for their respective bullpens. For Maine, right‑hander Brennan Rumpf has been effective of late. In his most recent outing Thursday, he tossed 3.2 scoreless innings of one‑hit relief, striking out one. Over his last seven appearances, Rumpf has allowed only one earned run across 14.1 innings while striking out 12. He also threw two scoreless frames in a 7‑3 win at Binghamton on May 3.

Binghamton counters with right‑hander Conner Griffin, who has been dominant in his past two starts. On Thursday he fired five shutout innings, scattering two hits and fanning four in the 3‑0 win over Lowell. In his previous outing May 15, he went three innings but allowed four earned runs. Griffin also turned in a strong performance against Maine on May 2, earning a win with five innings of two‑hit, one‑run ball and six strikeouts.

The Bearcats have won 10 of their last 12 games, including two of three against Maine earlier this month. In that series at Binghamton, the teams split a pair of one‑run games before the Black Bears took the finale 7‑3. Maine won the opener 9‑2, then lost 8‑7 in 11 innings before closing with a victory.

Maine’s offense was led Thursday by left fielder Quinn Murphy, who went 2‑for‑5 with three RBIs. The Black Bears have averaged 6.4 runs over their last five wins.

Interstat’s game simulator projects a 7‑6 score in favor of Maine, though the same service’s ELO system gives Binghamton a 61.3 percent probability to win.

First pitch is set for 4 p.m. at Varsity Field.