College Baseball
Long Island University 10, Rider University 8
BROOKLYN, NY-The Broncs lost at LIU Wednesday, ending a streak of eight straight wins for Rider over the Blackbirds. "We didn't do much today except see the city," said Rider head coach Barry Davis. "We didn't hit, we didn't pitch, we didn't field."
The last time LIU defeated Rider was during the 2006 season.
LIU (15-23) scored two runs in the eighth inning on two hits and two walks to take a 10-8 lead. LIU scored six runs in the fourth inning on three hits, five walks, a hit batsman, a sacrifice fly and an error to take an 8-4 lead. "You can't win that way," Davis said.
Senior Brandon Cotten (Wiconisco, Pa./Williams Valley) hit a three-run triple, his fourth hit of the game, to cut the LIU lead to 8-7 in the eighth inning and scored to tie it. "We battled a little bit at the end there," Davis said.
With two runs scored, Cotten now has 134 career runs, 11th most ever at Rider.
Rider (11-24) took a 4-2 lead in the fourth inning with a run on two hits, including a double by Cotten. Cotten now has 191 career hits, 14th most ever at Rider.
The Broncs took a 3-2 lead in the second inning with two runs on one hit, two walks and two errors.
Rider junior Adam Wayman (Wilkes-Barre, Pa./G.A.R. Memorial) hit an RBI double to get Rider on the board in the first inning and extended his hitting streak to seven games.
Rider junior Ian Lindsay (Oaklyn/Haddon Twp.) had two hits.
Cotten led off the game with a single and extended his hitting streak to seven games.
Sophomore Nick Crescenzo (Hammonton, NJ/Hammonton) saw his six-game hitting streak snapped but had two RBI.
The Broncs and Blackbirds were Northeast Conference rivals for five years. Rider defeated LIU 7-4 in the 1994 NEC Title Game. The Broncs beat the Blackbirds 4-3 in 10 innings in the 1995 NEC Title Game. And Rider beat LIU 14-1 in the 1996 NEC Title Game.
Rider returns home to host Marist in a Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference doubleheader Saturday at 12 noon. "We'll get ready for Marist," Davis said. "We've played pretty well on the weekends. We can't seem to win a mid-week game but the last few weekends we've played well."
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