Box Score 1 |
Box Score 2 College Baseball
Liberty University 3, Rider University 1
Ball State University 5, Rider University 4 (10 innings)
LYNCHBURG, VA—The Broncs lost a split doubleheader with Liberty and Ball State Saturday. “Our pitching was good and our defense was good,” said Rider head coach Barry Davis. “We've played three pretty good games but we just haven't had enough on the offensive end.”
In the first game against host Liberty (6-5), the Flames went up 3-0 in the fifth inning with a run on a two-out single, a wild pitch and an RBI single.
Liberty, which went to an NCAA Regional last year, took a 2-0 lead in the third inning on two singles, a sacrifice bunt and a double.
For Rider, junior Greg Fazio (Far Hills/Ridge) had two of Rider's four hits. “We didn't hit but their pitcher had a lot to do with that,” Davis said. “He was pretty good. But our outs were weak.”
Junior Zach Mawson (Magnolia, DE/Caesar Rodney) pitched seven innings, allowing three runs on seven hits. “Mawson was good,” Davis said. “He pitched fine. Liberty is a pretty good team. Mawson gave us a chance to win. He kept us in the ball game.”
The Broncs got on the board in the seventh inning when senior Ken Kremer (Hershey, PA/Hershey) and Fazio singled, both moved up on a sacrifice bunt by sophomore Connor Luff (Milford, DE/Milford) and Kremer scored on a ground out by sophomore Brian Donnelly (Churchville, PA/Council Rock South).
“Kremer swung the bat pretty good today and Fazio had pretty good at bats,” Davis said.
Rider freshman Josh Sharik (Ewing, NJ/Plumstead Christian) pitched the final two innings, facing just six batters and stuck out one. “Josh made his debut and threw the ball well,” Davis said. “He threw good. He had good velocity and his breaking ball (slider) was working. I liked what I saw out of him.”
Rider senior Nick Crescenzo (Hammonton, NJ/Hammonton) also singled in the first game. “Nicky had some good at bats,” Davis said.
In the second game against Ball State (7-2) the Cardinals scored in the top of the 10th inning on a single, a sacrifice bunt, a single and an error.
In the bottom of the ninth inning Rider had runners on second and third with one out but came up empty. “We aren't going to win many games if we can't hit with runners in scoring position in key situations,” Davis said. “Until we do that we're going to waste good games played by our defense and our pitching. We had opportunities to win the second game.”
Rider senior Kyle Kennett (Spring Lake, NJ/St. Rose) pitched seven innings, allowing four runs on six hits and a walk while striking out five. “Kyle threw fine,” Davis said. “He rebounded from one poor inning.”
Freshman Giovanni Gussen (Mullica Hill, NJ/Gloucester Catholic) had an RBI single and junior Nick Richter (Fox River Grove, Ill./Cary-Grove) hit a two-run single to key a four-run second inning, tying the score at 4-4. “We looked more alive in the second game,” Davis said.
For Rider (2-5) Fazio, Kremer and Richter each had two of Rider's 10 hits.
“Our hitting will eventually come around,” Davis said. “All of the pitchers we've seen down here are throwing 88 (mph) to 92, so that should help us down the road. We'll go after them tomorrow.”
In the fourth game of the series Rider plays host Liberty at 3pm Sunday in a game broadcast on ESPN3. “Hopefully we'll compete,” Davis said, “and people tuning in will watch us jump start our offense.”
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