College Baseball
Rider University 7, Quinnipiac University 4
LAWRENCEVILLE-The Rider University baseball team won the 2011 home opener in come from behind fashion 7-4 on Wednesday afternoon at Sonny Pittaro Field.
"It was a good win," said head coach Barry Davis. "We did some things (situational hitting) that were good."
Tied at four in the bottom of the eighth, Rider (7-7) senior A.J. Albee (Ashley, Pa./Hanover Area) scored on a passed ball and freshman pinch hitter Jerry Mulderig (Langhorne, Pa./Council Rock HS South) followed with a two-run single up the middle for the final score.
Bronc closer, sophomore Tyler Smith (Westmont/Haddon Township), struck out the side in the ninth inning for his third save of the season.
"Tyler looked pretty good," Davis said.
Quinnipiac (4-4) scored three times in the first inning on four hits and a Rider error.
Rider got one back in the bottom of the first on an RBI single by Albee.
Trailing 4-1 in the fifth inning, Rider scored twice on a sacrifice fly and RBI groundout.
The Broncs tied the game at four in the bottom of the seventh on an RBI single by senior John Ralston (Annandale, Va./Paul VI), scoring sophomore Adam Wayman (Wilkes Barre, Pa./G.A.R. Memorial) who doubled down the left field line with two outs to start the rally.
Ralston and senior Mason Heyne (Shrewsbury, Pa./Susquehannock) each had two hits Wednesday, both executing hit and run plays during the game.
"Having three players execute hit and run plays was big," Davis said about Ralston, Heyne and freshman Ken Kremer (Hershey, Pa./Hershey). "Then you get a great read by A.J. (Albee) on the passed ball and a clutch hit by Jerry (Mulderig). It was one of those days that pitching allowed us to get back into the game and we had a pretty solid nine inning effort at the plate and in the field."
Senior pitcher Jeff Giordano (Massapequa Park, N.Y./Massapequa) worked seven innings, scattering eight hits and recorded six strikeouts, leaving the game trailing by a 4-3 score.
"I was just trying to get a lot of ground balls," said Giordano who recorded nine outs on the ground and had five of his six strikeouts looking. "My defense, particularly John (Ralston) made some nice plays behind me and that got me out of some jams. I am not a big strikeout guy so I was just working on keeping the ball down."
"For Jeff to come out and give us seven solid innings and 106 pitches was big," Davis said. "I thought he was outstanding. If we get the guy out on the pickoff in the first inning instead of making an error, he may have settled in better. He did a good job. Anytime a starter can go six or more innings, it saves your bullpen."
"Jeff pitched a great game," Heyne said. "And our situational hitting was huge. We were able to see some good pitches and got the job done. We are coming around, getting used to the new bats and we are all starting to hit at the right time."
Heyne is on a five-game hitting streak.
Sophomore Sean Kuberiet (Branchburg/Somerville) worked a scoreless eighth inning for his first win of the season.
Each team turned three double plays in the game.
"The three double plays were big for me," Giordano said. "Coach Davis told me to go as long as I could and I just focused on each inning to make that happen. (Sean) Kuberiet and (Tyler) Smith did an awesome job getting the final six outs.
This was only the second meeting all-time between Rider and Quinnipiac in baseball. The Broncs won over the Bobcats 6-2 on March 14, 2002.
"It is nice to not have to not have to get on a bus," Davis said about the first game in Lawrenceville this season. "It is good to get into some type of routine. Overall it is nice to play at home and the field was in good shape considering all of the rain we had."
"It is awesome playing home," Heyne said. "I love playing at our field."
Rider hosts Maine for a four-game series March 18-20. The game on Friday is scheduled for a 3pm start.
"Maine has traditionally been good," Davis said about the upcoming games this weekend. "I expect it to be a conference series type of atmosphere. The weather will be nice and it will be good competition. We are going to see, early in the year, what we are made of."
"We know what is ahead of us," Heyne added. "Maine has a good team and good tradition. We are going to have to come ready to play and it is going to take everyone putting forth a good effort."
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