NCAA Baseball
Cal State Fullerton 11, Rider University 0
FULLERTON, CA?The Broncs lost to host Cal State Fullerton in the first round of the NCAA Regional Baseball Championship late Friday night at Goodwin Field in front of 2,393 in attendance and a national ESPNU television audience. “We didn't lie down, we forced their pitcher to work and we gained some experience against a very talented team,” said Rider head coach Barry Davis.
Fullerton (39-19), the top seed in the Regional and the fifth seed in the national field of 64, scored five runs in the fifth inning on five hits, including a three-run home run by Christian Colon, to take a 9-0 lead. Colon had five RBI in the game.
“They are the fifth ranked team in the country,” Davis said. “They are very talented at every position. The made some super plays in the field. We were hoping maybe we could catch a little lighting. They came out ready to play and did a great job.”
The ?small ball' Titans, making their 17th consecutive Regional appearance, took a 1-0 lead in the second inning with a bunt single, a sacrifice bunt, a single and an RBI bunt single, before a two-run single to left made it 3-0. ““We knew coming in they were going to do what they did; run, bunt, put the ball in play,” Davis said. “They didn't hit EVERY ball hard, but they put it in play.”
Junior James Hayes (Sunrise, Fla./Piper), the MAAC Tournament MVP last weekend, had two of Rider's six hits, and now has 202 for his career, fourth best ever at Rider.
J. Hayes led off the game with a single but was picked off first base and his brother, senior David Hayes (Sunrise, Fla./American Heritage) doubled, before Fullerton pitcher Brian Wilson, making his first start of the season, faced just one batter over the minimum for the next seven innings. “We had some opportunities early,” Davis said. “He (Wilson) pitched a hell of a game. I think we got four of our hits in the first three innings. He was in command of the game. They scored in four of the eight innings, but they were almost all crooked numbers.”
Wilson threw 111 pitches in the complete game victory and also homered to lead off the third inning, his third home run of the season, and held Rider to six hits. “We need to hit,” Davis said.
Sophomore Eric Woodrow (Hamilton, N.J./Hamilton West) sophomore Nick Wojnowski (Baldwin, Md./Calvert Hall) and junior Sean Olson (Vineland, N.J./St. Augustine Prep) also collected hits for Rider (29-27).
Junior Mike Petrowski (Hamilton Square, N.J./Steinert), the winning pitcher in game one of the MAAC tournament who came back and saved the Title Game, allowed nine runs on 11 hits in four and two-thirds innings, his shortest outing of the season. He threw 93 pitches.
Petrowski had just one 1-2-3 inning, in the fourth.
The Broncs turned double plays in the sixth and seventh scoreless innings. “We made some plays in some situations,” Davis said.
Junior Derek Caldwell (Allentown, Pa./Salisbury), the winning pitcher in the MAAC Title Game last weekend, pitched the final three and one-third innings, allowing one earned run. “I thought Derek threw okay,” Davis said. “That was one of the positives of this game.”
The shutout was just the second for Rider this season.
The second seed, UCLA, defeated the third seed, Virginia, 3-2 with an unearned run in the bottom of the ninth inning.
Rider plays Virginia at 7pm Eastern time Saturday. “Hopefully tomorrow we won't be awestruck by anything that happens,” Davis said.
Davis is a native of Charlottesville, Virginia, home of the Cavaliers. “It is certainly exciting to be able to play a team I've been following since I was a kid,” Davis said. “It will be nice to compete against them. Growing up I saw them play all the time. Now we have a chance to play against them. It will be fun for me.”
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