College Baseball
Rider University 3, Siena College 2
Siena College 12, Rider University 7
LOUDONVILLE, NY-The Broncs spilt a Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference doubleheader at Siena Friday. "We were fortunate to get good pitching in the first game," said Rider head coach Barry Davis. "In the first game we had a few hits but didn't score much and in the second game we didn't hit."
In the first game Rider (20-11, 9-2 MAAC) took a 3-2 lead in the seventh inning on an RBI double by senior Mason Heyne (Shrewsbury, Pa./Susquehannock), his career-record tying 63rd double, scoring senior A.J. Albee (Ashley, Pa./Hanover Area), who reached base with his fourth hit of the game. "Mason had a big hit there," Davis said, "and we were able to hang on."
Senior Mike Thomas (Forest Hill, Md./Fallston) pitched eight innings, striking out eight while allowing one earned run. "Mike threw well," Davis said. "He did a good job."
Thomas improved to 5-1 on the season. The win was the 25th career victory for Thomas, tied for tenth in the nation among active Division I pitchers and just one shy of the Bronc record set in 1957 by Leo Chester.
Thomas' 250 career strikeouts is 13th most in the nation among active Division I players.
Sophomore Tyler Smith (Westmont/Haddon Twp.) pitched the ninth inning, retiring all three batters he faced for his 10th save of the season and the 19th of his career.
Siena (12-22, 2-6 MAAC) tied the score at 2-2 with a home run by junior second baseman Dan Paolini, who has 12 home runs this year and 49 career home runs.
The Broncs took a 2-1 lead in the fifth inning when Albee doubled, went to third on a wild pitch and scored on an RBI ground out by Heyne, the Rider career RBI leader.
Rider tied the score at 1-1 in the third inning when freshman Nick Crescenzo (Hammonton, NJ/Hammonton) singled, stole second, advanced to third on a single by Albee and scored on a ground out by Heyne.
Siena took a 1-0 lead in the second inning with an unearned run on a pair of singles and an error.
In the second game Heyne hit his 23rd career home run to cut the lead to 11-7 in the sixth inning.
Rider score four runs in the top of the fifth inning to cut the lead to 9-6. "We didn't really hit the ball in the second game," Davis said after Rider scored seven runs on just four hits. "They kicked it around a little bit, allowing us to score. We need to hit the ball better."
Siena scored four runs in the fourth inning on five hits to take a 9-2 lead.
Crescenzo hit a two-run single in the third inning to cut the lead to 5-2. Crescenzo had two hits, two runs scored and three RBI in the doubleheader.
Siena took a 2-0 lead in the first inning and went up 5-0 in the second on a hit and two Rider errors.
Rider and Siena have now met 48 times since the series began in 1995 with each team winning 24. Rider won all three games against Siena last year in Lawrenceville and all three at Siena in 2009.
Rider won the first three MAAC series this season and will look for its fourth tomorrow.
The third game of the Siena series is scheduled for 11 am on Saturday at Siena. "We're happy we got the one win today and we'll try to win the series tomorrow."
-ru-
