Head Coach
Tim Sinicki

Deeply entrenched at Binghamton as the longest-tenured head coach, Tim Sinicki begins his 19th season at the helm of a Bearcats’ program that has become one of the most consistently successful programs in the Northeast.

Sinicki has been named the America East Coach of the Year four times in the last six seasons (2005, 2007, 2009, 2010) as his Bearcats have continued their dominance in league play. Over the last seven years, BU owns the highest win percentage in the America East, including a lofty 74% in the last four years.

In 2010, BU won its fourth straight America East regular season title - the second-longest streak on 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.

In each of the last six seasons, a Binghamton player has been chosen for one of the major awards (Player, Pitcher, or Rookie of the Year) and 2010 was no exception with ace James Giulietti earning co-Pitcher of the Year honors and junior outfielder Corey Taylor notching Player of the Year accolades.

Ironically, one of Sinicki’s best coaching campaigns didn’t result in individual honors, as his young 2008 squad won 15 league games to capture the team’s second straight regular season title. He had to replace six of eight position starters from a senior-laden 2007 squad and played the 2008 campaign with four starting freshmen — six starting newcomers in all. That team won a school-record 29 games and ultimately finished as runnerup at the America East Championship tournament.

Strong pitching has always been a staple of Sinicki-coached teams. In three of the last five years BU has produced the America East Pitcher of the Year (Zach Groh 2006, Murphy Smith 2009, James Giulietti 2010). In addition, eight pitchers have been named all-conference in that span.

Smith was selected by the Oakland Athletics in the 13th round of the 2009 MLB Amateur Draft — one year after Jeff Dennis was tabbed by the Athletics. Former Sinicki lefthander Scott Diamond is quickly advancing in the Atlanta Braves organization. Diamond, who signed with the Braves in 2007, was named the Braves’ Pitcher of the Year for their 2008 Class A-Advanced Myrtle Beach team and finished the 2010 season with the Triple-A Gwinnett Braves. In 10starts at Triple-A, Diamond posted a 4-1 record with an impressive 3.36 ERA.

In all, 13 Binghamton player have signed professional contracts in the last five years.

In addition to his team’s on-the-field success, Sinicki’s program has had unparalleled achievement in the classroom. The Bearcats have achieved a 3.0 or higher grade-point average in 17 of 21 semesters and have maintained the highest team GPA in the America East in six of the last nine years. Thirteen players have been chosen to the America East Baseball All-Academic Team in the last five years.

During the team’s transition to Division I, BU captured an ECAC championship in 2000 and earned runner-up conference honors in 2001. The program’s other ECAC crown came in 1997, when then-Division III BU went 26-10-1, registering the highest win percentage in school history (.716).

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.

Tim resides in Vestal with his wife, Tina, and their children Allison, Tanner and Ashley.

Assistant Coach
Ryan Hurba

Ryan Hurba enters his sixth season as hitting coach and recruiting coordinator for the Bearcats in 2011. As the offensive accolades continue to mount for the Bearcats, so too does Hurba's reputation as an elite recruiter and instructor.

En route to the team's record-breaking season last spring, Hurba's hitters produced a school-record .332 team batting average - the second straight record-breaking season in that category. That mark was tops in the America East and ranked 26th (out of 292) in the nation. In addition, BU ranked 44th in the country in runs per game, putting up more than 8 tallies per game. The Bearcats had three of the top four hitters in the conference and five of the top 10, highlighted by Player of the Year Corey Taylor. Six hitters earned all-conference recognition, giving Hurba and BU 22 all-conference hitters in the last five years. In addition, BU has produced two America East Players of the Year (Brendan Hitchcock, 2007, Corey Taylor, 2010)and two more Rookies of the Year (Peter Bregartner, 2008, Dave Ciocchi, 2009) in that span. Freshman third baseman Mike Thompson also earned Louisville Slugger Freshman All-American laurels in 2010, the second Bearcat hitter to earn national distinction in the last two years (Dave Ciocchi in 2009).

Two Hurba disciples made it to the professional ranks in 2010 - center fielder Henry Dunn and second baseman Jim Calderone. Dunn was selected by the Cleveland Indians in the Major League Draft and Calderone signed a contract with Windy City in the Class A Frontier League.

Under Hurba's tutelage, BU broke dozens of offensive team records in its 2009 championship season. The Bearcats set new marks for team batting average (.320), hits (548), runs (357), RBI (321) and triples (18). The team average of .320 was 26 points higher than the record set by the 2005 squad and a dramatic one-year improvement of 38 points.

Hurba came to Binghamton from Division II powerhouse Mount Olive College (N.C.) (2008 Division II National Champions), where he served as an assistant for two years. While at Mount Olive he coached four All-Americans and four future professional players. Three of those players signed as free agents, while one was an MLB draft pick.

Hurba has also served as an assistant at Brevard Community College. There Hurba worked with head coach Ernie Rosseau, a former minor league hitting coordinator with the Chicago Cubs and New York Mets. Their Brevard team advanced to the Florida State Junior College tournament, finishing fourth in the state. Hurba coached five Brevard players who were drafted by MLB teams.

Prior to heading into college coaching Hurba spent four years as the head coach at the oldest overnight baseball camp in the country, the Sho-Me Baseball Camp (Branson, MO). There he oversaw the entire on field summer program as well as their satellite camps in the off season.

As an undergraduate player, he earned All-America honors at Oswego State in 1996. Hurba was a three-time all-region selection, three-time all conference selection and two-time ECAC all-star. In 2001, he was inducted into Oswego's Baseball Hall of Fame.

He has also served as an associate scout with the Milwaukee Brewers and was head coach and league director of the Dunwoody Senior Baseball Developmental League in Georgia.

Ryan resides in Endwell, NY with his wife Carrie, their daughter Kaylee and son TJ.

Assistant Coach
Ed Folli

Longtime area high school coach Ed Folli enters his fifth season as an assistant in 2011.

Folli brings three decades of baseball experience to the program, having achieved regional and state acclaim as head coach for nearby Union-Endicott High School.

In 17 seasons as head coach of the Tigers, Folli captured eight sectional, three regional and two state championships while amassing a 275-93 overall record.

The two-time state coach of the year is the winningest baseball coach in school history. He also served as an assistant football coach for a U-E program that won two state titles.

He will be inducted into the Section 4 Hall of Fame on March 6.

Folli was a standout player for Springfield College before graduating with a bachelor’s degree in education in 1973. He was a member of three nationally-ranked teams, earned All-New England honors and was named to the school’s All-Decade Team (1970-79).

He has also served as the batting practice pitcher with the Double-A Binghamton Mets for the past two seasons

Ed and his wife Wendie have two sets of twins; E.J. and Mike and Megan and Ty.

Assistant Coach
Dustin Johnson

Dustin Johnson joins the Bearcats' program for his first year in 2012.

Johnson spent the last two seasons at Bloomsburg University, helping guide the Division II Huskies to the program's first postseason playoff berth in 14 seasons last spring. With Johnson as the team's pitching coach and recruiting coordinator, Bloomsburg posted its highest win total (23) in nine seasons. Under his tutelage, the Huskies pitching staff lowered its team earned run average by nearly three runs per game in the last two seasons. The 2011 squad held down a 4.89 team ERA, the lowest figure in nine years. Additionally, the 2010 staff set the highest strikeout mark in eight seasons (258).

He coached seven all-conference players in 2011, including a pitcher that was selected as Freshman of the Year in the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC). Johnson's first recruiting class of pitchers went 14-5 with a 4.18 ERA in 2011.

A former standout on the mound, Johnson played three years at Bloomsburg (2006-08) after transferring from Volunteer State in Tennessee. He was the ace of the staff in 2006 and 2007, leading the team in wins, strikeouts, inning pitched and complete games during that two-year span.

He graduated in 2008 with a bachelor's degree in elementary education and earned his master's degree in instructional technology in 2010 from Bloomsburg.

"I am extremely excited to have Dustin join our staff," said four-time America East Coach of the Year Sinicki, who is entering his 20th season at Binghamton in 2012. "Dustin has worked with former BU assistant coach Mike Collins for the past two seasons at Bloomsburg and comes to our program highly recommended. It hasn't taken long for me to learn that Dustin has a great deal of knowledge in many areas of the game but especially on the pitching side. Dustin also has tremendous passion and energy for the game and will no doubt be a great fit with the entire coaching staff and our players."