College Baseball
Manhattan College 7, Rider University 3
LAWRENCEVILLE?The Broncs lost a Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference game to Manhattan Saturday afternoon and lost the series two games to one. “It is disappointing after winning yesterday,” said Rider head coach Barry Davis, “to come out and play like that. It was not a good day for the Broncs and it was a good day for the Jaspers.”
Junior Sean Olson (Vineland, N.J./St. Augustine Prep) hit a two-run single in the seventh inning, his 100th career hit, to cut the lead to 7-3. “Given the resent slump I was in, it felt pretty good,” Olson said. “Just getting a hit felt good, and the fact that I was able to knock two runs in was more important. 100 is just a number, but giving the team a chance to win a game is the important thing.”
Manhattan (6-10-1, 2-1 MAAC) scored an unearned run in the first inning and broke open a 3-0 game with four runs in the sixth inning on four hits and another Rider error. “In the sixth inning Manhattan swung the bat,” Davis said. “Give them credit.”
Freshman Mike Thomas (Forest Hill, Md./Fallston) started and allowed five earned runs in five innings pitched, striking out three without allowing a walk. “I thought Mike threw fine,” Davis said. “Once they had seen him a few times they started to hit him, but it came all of a sudden.”
Sophomore Kris Brown (Vineland, N.J./Vineland) pitched four innings of shutout relief, allowing just two hits while striking out three. “I thought Brown did a great job coming in,” Davis said. “He did the job and gave us a chance to do what we were trying to do.”
Junior Maurice Williams (Ocean, N.J./Monmouth Regional), freshman Mason Heyne (Shrewsbury, Pa./Susquehannock) and senior Jon Leise (Woodbury, N.J./West Deptford) also collected hits for Rider (8-8, 1-2 MAAC)
The Bronc defense committed four errors and the Rider offense had four hits. “You are not going to win when your errors equal your hits,” Davis said. “I don't care if it is one error and one hit, or 10 errors and 10 hits, that isn't going to work.”
Rider travels to Rutgers Tuesday and hosts St. Joseph's Wednesday. “We need to bounce back right away,” Davis said.
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