College Baseball
Niagara University 4, Rider University 3
LAWRENCEVILLE-The Broncs lost in unusual fashion Friday afternoon in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference opener to Niagara.
Preseason All-American junior Tyler Smith (Westmont/Haddon Twp.), an All-East closer last season, threw a wild pitch in an intentional walk attempt, allowing the tying run to score in the eighth inning, then gave up an RBI single to the same batter, accounting for the winning run.
"We keep finding new ways to lose ball games," said Rider head coach Barry Davis.
Rider (5-14, 0-1 MAAC) took a 3-1 lead in the fifth inning on a three-run home run by sophomore Nick Crescenzo (Hammonton, NJ/Hammonton). It was the first career home run for Crescenzo, a Freshman All-American last year.
Niagara junior first baseman Ryan McCauley, who is batting .427 with 34 hits, knocked in the winning run. McCauley gave Niagara (8-11, 1-0 MAAC) a 1-0 lead in the second inning with his ninth home run of the season.
Rider sophomore Mike Murphy (Hamilton/Peddie) pitching into the eighth inning and struck out seven while walking just one and left the game with a 3-2 lead, but suffered the loss. "Murph threw great," Davis said. "He did a good job. He had some really good innings. That was a tough way to lose."
Rider's rookie middle infielders, freshman second baseman Mike Parsons (Liverpool, NY) and freshman shortstop Greg Fazio (Far Hills/Ridge), turned two difficult double plays. "Those two have a chance to be good players," Davis said of his double play combination. "You can see it."
Niagara out-hit Rider 10-5. "We just can't score right now," said Davis, who has seen his team score just 10 runs in the last six games. "You can't make any mistakes when you play like that. Twice we couldn't get a bunt down, twice we couldn't execute the hit-and-run. We're not playing good enough right now."
Rider and Niagara have met 41 times since the series began in 1997 with Rider winning 28. Last season Rider won all three games when Niagara was the "home team" at Rider due to snow in Western New York. In 2010 the Purple Eagles visited Lawrenceville and Niagara won the series two games to one.
Rider and Niagara play a doubleheader Saturday beginning at 10am. "We need to play better than we're playing," Davis added. "Hopefully we can bounce back and salvage the series. I thought we played hard today and everyone was in the ball game. We're making strides in certain areas, but we need to play better."
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