College Baseball
Rider University 6, Lehigh University 4
LAWRENCEVILLE—The Broncs defeated Lehigh Tuesday for their fourth straight win and ninth in the last 12 games. “Give Lehigh credit, they hung in there,” said Rider head coach Barry Davis, “but we did enough to win. We'll take it. We did a lot of things poorly today.”
Rider (17-12) scored four runs in the fifth inning on just two hits and an error.
Rider junior Nick Crescenzo (Hammonton, NJ/Hammonton) hit an RBI single to break a 1-1 tie and scored all the way from second base on a wild pitch to give Rider a 4-1 lead. “Those are the kind of plays that win games for you,” Davis said.
Rider senior Joe Calogero (Cherry Hill, N.J./Cherry Hill HS West) pitched five innings for the win, striking out four without allowing an earned run, giving up just two hits. “My change-up and curveball were working well today,” said Calogero, who is now 1-1 on the season and 7-4 in his career. “Just trying to mix up speeds and keep them off balance.”
“Joe hasn't had much of a chance to get out there but he was able to get deeper into the game,” Davis said. “He got an opportunity today and did a good job.”
Calogero (1-1) won the second game of the 2012 season before a shoulder injury that required surgery. “It's been over a year (since his last win) so it feels really good,” Calogero said. “It's still not 100 percent but it's getting there. I think I'm pretty much back.”
Sophomore Justin Thomas (Richboro, PA/Council Rock South) hit an RBI double in the seventh inning to give Rider a 5-2 lead and sophomore Mike Parsons (Liverpool, NY) hit an RBI single in the eighth inning for a 6-2 lead.
Parsons, sophomore Greg Fazio (Far Hills/Ridge) and senior Adam Wayman (Wilkes-Barre, Pa./G.A.R. Memorial) each had two of Rider's nine hits.
Fazio and sophomore Eric Strano (Robbinsville) both tripled.
After Lehigh (17-15) scored two runs in the ninth inning junior Kyle Kennett (Spring Lake, NJ/St. Rose) came in for the save, getting out of a bases loaded jam with a double play and a strikeout.
Rider defeated Lehigh 13-0 in 1989 and the two teams did not meet again until 2007, a 12-5 Rider win. That was the last meeting between these former East Coast Conference and MAC rivals. Rider and Lehigh have now met 46 times with Rider holding a 33-13 advantage in the series that began in 1967.
Rider travels to NJIT Wednesday. “We have to do better tomorrow than we did today,” Davis said. “We've played them three times (2-1 Rider) so we're familiar with them.”
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