College Baseball
Rider University 7, Canisius College 0
Canisius College 3, Rider University 1
LAWRENCEVILLE-The Broncs split a Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference doubleheader with Canisius Saturday. "Both of our pitchers threw well," said Rider head coach Barry Davis. "It was a well-pitched day."
In the first game, senior Mike Thomas (Forest Hill, Md./Fallston) pitched seven innings, striking out eight. Thomas improved to 6-2 on the year with the victory, the 26th win in his collegiate career. "Mike pitched well," Davis said.
Thomas was coming off a loss to Fairfield last week. "Last week I didn't feel I was very competitive, very aggressive," Thomas said, "so today I wanted to go out and try to get ahead of the hitters. I was able to throw a lot of fastballs for strikes, which opened up a lot of other pitches. The defense played well behind me."
"Mike attacked them and did a good job," Davis said. "You always know you are going to get a great effort out of Thomas. When he takes the mound I feel confident that we're going to get a good outing."
The 26 wins ties the Rider record set in 1957 by Rider Hall of Famer Leo Chester, who owns a 26-7 career record. The 26 career win total is also tenth in the nation among active Division I pitchers. "The win that meant a lot to me today was our 11th conference win," Thomas said. "That gets us closer to the MAAC tournament and that's the goal. The 26th win is nice but the team's success this season comes first. We need to keep winning ballgames."
His total of eight strikeouts against Canisius gives him 260 for his career, 14th most in the nation among active Division I players and two strikeouts shy of the Rider record, set in 2001 by Rider Hall of Famer and former major leaguer Kevin Barry.
With a 3.52 grade point average as a Finance major, Thomas is an Academic All-America nominee,
As a junior Mike Thomas was named the 2010 Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Pitcher of the Year and the New Jersey Division I Pitcher of the Year. He earned First Team All-East honors and his name appeared on the All-America ballot, as he led Rider to the MAAC Championship and the NCAA Tournament for the second time in three years.
The Broncs scored the only run they needed in the first inning when junior Brandon Cotten (Wiconisco, Pa./Williams Valley) doubled, was sacrificed to third base and scored on a sacrifice fly by senior A.J. Albee (Ashley, Pa./Hanover Area).
Rider made it 4-0 in the second inning with three runs on four hits, the biggest hit a two-run single by senior Steve Galella (Wilkes-Barre, Pa./G.A.R. Memorial).
Galella, Cotten and senior Karl Johnston (Hamilton, N.J./Peddie) each had three of Rider's 13 hits in the first game. Johnston's second RBI of the game gave Rider a 6-0 lead in the fourth inning.
"We strung some hits together early," Davis said.
In the second game, Canisius (19-22, 7-5 MAAC) scored an unearned run in the first inning and scored two runs in the sixth inning with two outs.
Senior Nate Eppley (Dillsburg, Pa./Northern) pitched seven innings and struck out six, allowing just two earned runs on five hits. "That's two weeks in a row that Nate pitched well and we laid an egg offensively," Davis said. "He only gave up two earned runs and they were both on a two-out hit."
Rider (24-15, 11-6 MAAC) cut the lead to 3-1 in the sixth inning on an RBI single by freshman Nick Crescenzo (Hammonton, NJ/Hammonton), his third hit of the day.
The Broncs hold a 27-17 advantage in the series, but Rider is just 3-9 against Canisius in the 12 regular season meetings. Rider has defeated Canisius three out of the last four postseason games, including the 2010 MAAC Title Game. The last time these two teams met was in the 2010 MAAC Title Game, a 4-2 Rider win in Fishkill, NY.
Rider lost all three games at Canisius last year but came back to defeat the Golden Griffins twice in the MAAC Championship Tournament. Following the losses at Canisius last season Rider went on to win 16 of its next 18 games.
The third game of the series is 12 noon Sunday at Rider's Sonny Pittaro Field. "We need to play better tomorrow," Davis said. "They are all big games from now on."
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