College Baseball
Rider University 10, La Salle University 4
LAWRENCEVILLE-The Broncs defeated La Salle in the final home game of the season Wednesday to finish the year 16-5 at home. "It is important to win your home games," said Rider head coach Barry Davis. "If you can't win at home it puts a lot of pressure on you to have to win on the road."
Rider (29-15) scored two runs in each of the first three innings and added three runs in the fourth inning to put La Salle (25-20) away early. "We swung the bats early," Davis said. "We did enough to win."
Senior Mason Heyne (Shrewsbury, Pa./Susquehannock) had two hits, including his 24th career home run and his Rider-record 65th career double, scored three times and had three more RBI. Heyne is also the Rider career leader in RBI with 180.
Heyne's home run off the scoreboard gave Rider a 2-0 lead in the first inning. "It's about time," Heyne said of his home run. It was his third home run of the season and his total of 24 career home runs is seventh most ever at Rider. "I hadn't got a hold of one in a while. It felt good when it left the bat."
"That was a big hit for us," Davis said. "He hasn't had many home runs this year. That got us going today."
The game was the final one on the Sonny Pittaro Field for Heyne, who has many fond memories of the Rider ball park. "My personal favorite memory was the walk-off home run against Iona," Heyne said. As a sophomore Heyne hit a three-run home run in the bottom of the ninth inning to give Rider a 10-8 MAAC win.
Rider freshman Jerry Mulderig (Langhorne, PA/Council Rock South) started for just the fourth time this season and collected two hits, including an RBI double in the fourth inning to give Rider a 9-1 lead. "Jerry is going to be a good player for us," Davis said. "He made a nice catch in the field, he's athletic and he works at it."
"I was just trying to put a good swing on the ball," said Mulderig, a Behavioral Neuroscience major who was an All-League infielder in high school. "The pitching is so much better in college than high school. The game is more competitive here."
Rider freshman Kyle Kennett (Spring Lake, NJ/St. Rose) started and pitched five innings, allowing one unearned run to improve to 4-0. "Kyle again threw well," Davis said. "Our record is pretty good when he starts. I think we also won the games he did not get decisions on. If we advance in the tournament he'll be counted on."
Senior Karl Johnston (Hamilton, N.J./Peddie) had two hits, giving him six hits in his last three games after having his eight-game hitting streak snapped.
Junior Brandon Cotten (Wiconisco, Pa./Williams Valley) hit a two-run triple in the second inning to give Rider a 4-0 lead. "Cotten had another big hit for us," Davis said.
Cotten has three home runs, three doubles and a triple in his last four games.
Rider has not been 29-15 since 1995 when the Broncs were 30-15 and finished that season 35-18.
"It's nice to play at home, it's nice to win at home," Davis said, "and now we get seven on the road."
The Broncs finish the regular season on a seven-game road trip. Rider plays its final MAAC series of the season at first-place Manhattan (26-16, 16-1 MAAC) May 14-15. "We're ready to go," Davis said. "They'll be ready for us. They are always tough up there. It will be a good challenge for us."
"We're ready," Heyne said. "We know what we have to do."
After a mid-week game at Temple May 17 Rider heads to Cleveland State for a final three-game tune up prior to the MAAC tournament.
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