College Baseball
Canisius College 14, Rider University 8
BUFFALO, NY-The Broncs lost a Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference game at Canisius Sunday, as the Griffs swept the series. "Just a tough day," said Rider head coach Barry Davis. "We got behind 6-0 right from the get-go and had a two and a half hour rain delay."
The young Broncs fall to 7-19 overall. Last year the veteran Rider team finished 33-18.
Rider (2-4 MAAC) scored five runs in the sixth inning on five hits, including a two-run triple by freshman Greg Fazio (Far Hills/Ridge) and an RBI double by freshman Mike Parsons (Liverpool, NY) to cut the lead to 14-6, and added two more runs in the seventh on two hits and two errors to cut the lead to 14-8. "We thought we had a chance at that point," Davis said. "I like that fact that we didn't quit."
Parsons had three of Rider's 11 hits and had five hits in the series. "We're swinging the bat fairly well," Davis said.
The Broncs got on the board in the fifth inning when Parsons singled and scored on a double by graduate student Ryan Murphy (Yardville, N.J./Steinert). Murphy had two hits Sunday.
Junior Adam Wayman (Wilkes-Barre, Pa./G.A.R. Memorial) had two hits Sunday and five hits in the series.
Canisius (15-13, 4-1 MAAC) scored six runs on five hits in the first inning and added four runs in the rain delayed third inning to take a 10-0 lead. "We didn't quit after falling behind big early," Davis said.
Junior Ian Lindsay (Oaklyn/Haddon Twp.), freshman Eric Strano (Robbinsville) and freshman Justin Thomas (Richboro, PA/Council Rock South) also collected hits for Rider Sunday.
Rider won two of the three games in the series last year but Canisius ended Rider's 2011 season in the MAAC playoffs.
Rider and Canisius have now met 49 times since the series began in 1983 with Rider winning 28.
The Broncs host NJIT Tuesday at 3:30pm. "We just need to play, and we need to play better," Davis said.
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