College Baseball
Rider University 12, Siena College 8 (10 inn.)
LOUDONVILLE, NY— The Broncs moved from sixth place to third place with a Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference sweep of Siena this weekend. “Well, we won them all,” said Rider head coach Barry Davis. “The fact that we won three games is great and hopefully we can build on it and do something with it. Today was basically a replica of yesterday's second game.”
Freshman Brandon Cotten (Wiconisco, Pa./Williams Valley) had three hits and three RBI to lead Rider to an extra inning victory at Siena Sunday. “Cotten hit the ball in a couple of clutch situations,” Davis said. “He's coming. He's doing a good job and getting better every day.”
Rider (17-15, 9-6 MAAC) junior Garrett Rugg (Langhorne, Pa./Neshaminy) singled in the top of the tenth inning and scored on a triple by sophomore A.J. Albee (Ashley, Pa./Hanover Area) to give Rider a 9-8 lead. Albee scored on a single by Cotton and Cotton scored on a single by senior Sean Olson (Vineland, N.J./St. Augustine Prep) for insurance runs for the Broncs.
“Rugg and Albee had big hits for us,” Davis said. “Albee drove it in the gap, a big hit and we were able to get another run out of it. Rugg beat out an infield hit and scored on A.J.'s hit and that got us going.”
Siena (8-28, 5-10 MAAC) scored four runs in the bottom of the ninth inning on four hits to tie the score at 8-8, sending the game into extra innings.
The Broncs scored six runs in the seventh inning on four hits, the biggest hits a three-run double by sophomore Mason Heyne (Shrewsbury, Pa./Susquehannock) and a two-run homer by sophomore Steve Galella (Wilkes-Barre, Pa./G.A.R. Memorial) to take a 6-3 lead. “Galella got us going,” Davis said, “and Heyne's hit was really big. That opened it up.”
Heyne and Galella each had two of Rider's 11 hits.
Rider took an 8-3 lead in the eighth inning on a two-run single by Cotten.
Sophomore Nate Eppley (Dillsburg, Pa./Northern) pitched three shutout innings of relief, striking out three. Sophomore Mike Thomas (Forest Hill, Md./Fallston) started and pitched four innings, allowing one earned run. “Thomas and Eppley both pitched great,” Davis said. “They both did exactly what we wanted them to do.”
Senior James Hayes (Sunrise, Fla./Piper) moved in from right field to pitch the ninth and tenth innings, collecting the win, his second of the year. “For the second game in a row Hayes didn't have his best stuff but found a way to win it,” Davis said. “Today I think he wanted the ball because he didn't pitch that well yesterday and I had to go with the guy who wanted the ball.”
Olson collected his 152nd career RBI, second most ever at Rider, with a single in the 10th inning to give Rider an 11-8 lead. Olson has 202 career hits, fifth most at Rider.
Siena scored two runs in the second inning on two hits and two Rider errors and added another unearned run in the third inning to take a 3-0 lead.
Rider defeated Siena in the 2008 MAAC Title Game. Last year Rider was swept (0-3) by Siena during the regular season before beating the Saints two out of three in the MAAC tournament.
The Broncs entered the weekend in sixth place and are now in third place in the nine-team MAAC, behind Manhattan and Niagara. The top four teams advance to the MAAC tournament, hosted by Rider at Waterfront Park.
The Broncs won four in a row to break the .500 mark for first time since having a 2-1 record, then lost three straight, before winning three straight this weekend.
Rider hosts LIU Wednesday at 3:30.
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