College Baseball
Rider University 8, Marist College 5
Marist College 6, Rider University 1
POUGHKEEPSIE, NY?The Broncs split a Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference doubleheader at Marist Saturday. Rider (14-13, 6-5 MAAC) has now won seven of the last 10 games and 11 of the last 16. “The first game was a big win for us,” said Rider head coach Barry Davis. “Unfortunately we didn't hit in the second game.”
In the first game senior James Hayes (Sunrise, Fla./Piper) hit a two-run single in the eighth inning to give the Broncs a 7-4 lead and pitched one and two-thirds innings, striking out two for the save, his fourth of the year and the 30thof his career. Hayes had two hits in the first game and now has 101 career RBI, 16th most ever at Rider.
Senior Sean Olson (Vineland, N.J./St. Augustine Prep) hit a three-run home run in the fifth inning to cut the lead to 4-3. Olson had three hits in the first game. Olson now has 143 RBI, the third most ever at Rider. His 24 career home runs is sixth most ever at Rider.
The Broncs tied the score at 4-4 in the seventh inning when Olson and sophomore Mason Heyne (Shrewsbury, Pa./Susquehannock) each collected two-out singles and Olson scored on a pinch-hit RBI single by junior Matt McCollum (Tabernacle, N.J./Shawnee). “That was a big pinch hit for Matt,” Davis said. McCollum now has 95 career hits.
Junior Garrett Rugg (Langhorne, Pa./Neshaminy) hit an RBI single in the ninth inning for the final score.
Sophomore Mike Thomas (Forest Hill, Md./Fallston) pitched one and one-third innings, striking out two for the win, his third of the season and ninth of his career.
Senior Mike Petrowski (Hamilton Square, N.J./Steinert) started and pitched six innings and allowed four runs while striking out seven.
Marist scored two runs in the first inning with three consecutive two-out doubles, and added two more runs in the second inning on three hits to take a 4-0 lead.
In the second game Marist (15-15, 6-5 MAAC) scored five runs in the second inning on six hits to take a 6-1 lead. “We had one bad inning,” Davis said. “We played poor defense and they got a inside the park home run when two of our outfielders kind of ran into each other.”
Hayes reached base on an error, stole second and eventually scored on a double play to give Rider a 1-0 lead. “We had bases loaded with nobody out and we only got one run out of it,” Davis said. ?That was the key to the second game. We had the momentum after the first win, but after they stopped us in the first and they scored they got the momentum and then they scored five.”
Senior Maurice Williams (Tinton Falls, N.J./Monmouth Regional) had two of Rider's five hits in the second game and had three hits on the day, giving him 182 for his career, 12th most ever at Rider.
Senior Jimmer Kennedy (Levittown, Pa./Holy Ghost Prep) went the distance, striking out four without allowing a walk. “Jimmer threw fine from the third inning on,” Davis said. "He basically shut them out in the third, fourth, fifth and sixth.”
Rider and Marist have met 58 times since the series began in 1992. In 1993 the two teams became Northeast Conference rivals and both joined the MAAC in 1998. Rider has defeated Marist 24 times, including two out of three in the series at Rider last season. Marist won the MAAC Championship in 2005, as well as 2000, 2001 and 2002. The Red Foxes defeated Rider in the 2001 and 2002 MAAC Title Games. Rider won four consecutive conference titles in the 1990s when the two teams were NEC rivals.
Due to Easter the third game of the series will be played Monday at 3pm in Poughkeepsie. Marist, like all MAAC institutions except for Rider, is a Catholic college.
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