TOWSON, Md. - Coach Mike Gottlieb of the Tiger baseball team may have a sense of deja vu this weekend when the Tigers host James Madison University in a three-game Colonial Athletic Association series.

For the fourth time in the last five years, the Tigers enter their final weekend of the season with a Colonial Athletic Association playoff bid on the line. Towson comes into this series tied with Georgia State for the sixth and final berth in the CAA Tournament which starts next week at James Madison University.

The Tigers, who are 23-29 overall and 12-15 in the CAA, will host the Dukes in three single games. On Thursday, May 17, the teams will play at 3 p.m. On Friday, May 18, they will play the second game of the series at 3 p.m. On Saturday, May 19, Towson and JMU close out the regular season with a 1 p.m. contest.

Saturday's regular season finale will be Senior Day. The Tigers will honor seniors Sean Adkins, Tyler Austin, Sean Thompson and Ben Winter (below) in pre-game ceremo nies.

Although the Tigers are tied with Georgia State at 12-15 in the CAA, Towson must win one more game than Georgia State this weekend to make the six-team tournament field. While the Tigers are hosting JMU, Georgia State has a three-game series at Old Dominion. If both Towson and Georgia State falter, both Northeastern (11-16) and William & Mary (11-16) could jump back into contention. Northeastern is playing three games at Delaware this weekend while the Tribe has a trip to Hofstra on the schedule.

UNC Wilmington (32-19, 22-5), Hofstra (31-19, 18-9) and Delaware (26-23, 16-11) have already clinched CAA Tournament bids while George Mason (32-30, 15-12) and Virginia Commonwealth (30-22, 15-12) are very close to securing spots in the tournament field.

Towson and JMU share one thing in common as they enter this weekend’s series. Both teams have been hit very hard by injuries this year. Injuries have taken a huge toll on Coach Gottlieb’s Towson pitching staff while the Dukes have been banged up all season long.

Now 16-32-2 overall and 10-17 in the CAA, James Madison entered the season as the defending CAA champion and the pre-season favorite. But, the Dukes never got their season going as they lost 11 of their first 12 CAA contests. JMU has one of the top offensive teams in the CAA with a .287 team batting average. The Dukes are second in the CAA with 314 runs scored. Junior centerfielder Cole McInturff has been the Dukes’ top hitter. He is batting .349 with 33 runs scored and 21 runs batted in. Conner Brown is hitting .338 with 33 RBI’s while Ian Haynes has a .304 batting mark with 19 RBI’s.

Until the last few weeks, the Tigers had been relying on timely hitting, solid pitching a good defense as their formula for success. But, then the injuries took their toll on the pitching staff.

Junior righthander Michael Trionfo has had an outstanding season as the Tigers’ ace. He enters the weekend with an 8-3 record and a 3.48 E.R.A. He is tied for the CAA lead in victories. Senior righthander Tyler Austin has been very effective out of the bullpen. Making a CAA-leading 28 appearances, he has a 2-4 record with five saves and a 5.20 E.R.A. In 53.2 innings of work, he has 74 strikeouts. Austin leads the CAA with 12.41 strikeouts per nine innings.

Freshman Brendan Butler has been the Tigers’ top hitter in recent weeks. He is batting .300 with a team-leading 30 runs scored. He also leads the Tigers with 32 runs batted in and 12 stolen bases. Butler has also been very versatile, starting games at three different positions.

Junior first baseman Kurtis Voytell leads the team with a .333 batting average while sophomore rightfielder Dominic Fratantuono is hitting .302 with seven doubles, six triples, three home runs and 26 runs batted in. Junior third baseman Zach Fisher has a .293 batting mark with eight doubles and 18 RBI's.

Since Towson and JMU became CAA rivals in 2002, the teams have played 31 times and JMU owns a 21-10 lead. In 2008, the Dukes beat Towson by 6-1 to win the CAA championship at Wilmington, N.C. James Madison swept the Tigers in Harrisonburg last year and has won 10 of the last 13 meetings between the teams.