College Baseball
Manhattan College 3, Rider University 1
RIVERDALE, NY—There is a common saying in baseball that two-out hits, that is, getting a base hit with two outs, are the most important.
Manhattan scored three runs, all with two outs, and the Broncs saw their five-game winning streak snapped with a Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference loss at defending champion Manhattan Saturday.
A two-out, RBI single in the sixth inning gave Manhattan (15-15, 6-4 MAAC) a 2-1 lead and a two-out, RBI double in the seventh inning made it 3-1.
A two-out, RBI double, following a walk and a sacrifice bunt in the second inning tied the score at 1-1.
“They out-played us, out-hustled us,” said Rider head coach Barry Davis. “They out-pitched us and out-hit us,”
Manhattan out-hit Rider 10-6.
Rider (18-13, 5-2 MAAC) took a 1-0 lead when sophomore Mike Parsons (Liverpool, NY) and sophomore Eric Strano (Robbinsville) singled, moved up on a sacrifice bunt by junior Jerry Mulderig (Langhorne, PA/Council Rock South) and scored on a ground out by senior Adam Wayman (Wilkes-Barre, Pa./G.A.R. Memorial).
Wayman doubled in the seventh inning for his second hit of the day and his 198th career hit. “He knocked in our only run and was in the middle of all the offense we could put together,” Davis said.
Senior Tyler Smith (Westmont/Haddon Twp.) pitched six and two-thirds innings and left the game trailing 2-1. “Tyler pitched well enough to win,” Davis said. “He didn't pitch as well as he has, but he has been pitching pretty well.”
Smith entered and exited the game with 19 career wins. This season he was 37th in the nation with just 1 walk per nine innings, but allowed four Saturday. He entered the game 48th in Division I in victories and was 63rd in earned run average. His strikeout to walk ratio was 25th in the nation but had just one K Saturday.
“We just didn't do enough offensively to win,” Davis said.
Sophomore Justin Thomas (Richboro, PA/Council Rock South) and freshman James Locklear (Hamilton, NJ/Steinert) also collected hits for Rider.
“We didn't bring the intensity we needed to bring,” Davis said.
Rider had won five of the last eight meetings with Manhattan, but has now won just two of the last six games played in Riverdale. Manhattan is 4-1 at home this year and was 19-0 at home last year.
The Broncs won two of the three games with Manhattan last year at Rider. The last time Rider played in Riverdale they Broncs and Jaspers split the doubleheader and the third game was rained out.
Rider is 23-28 in the all-time series with Manhattan that began in 1998, Rider's first year in the MAAC.
The second and third games of the series will be played Sunday beginning at 12 noon. “Manhattan out-played us today,” Davis said. “After tomorrow we'll know a little bit more about who the better team is. Hopefully tomorrow we'll play better.”
-ru-
