College Baseball

Rider University 7, St. John's University 2

QUEENS, NY—The Broncs won in Queens.

The Rider University baseball team defeated BIG EAST power St. John's Sunday afternoon in a game broadcast on ESPN3.  “We played pretty good,” said Rider head coach Barry Davis. “We came out with a little enthusiasm.”

Rider freshman starter Nick Margevicius (North Royalton, Ohio/St. Ignatius) pitched five and one-third innings for his first collegiate win. “Nick threw well,” Davis said.

Rider (5-14) scored two runs with two hits in the seventh inning to increase its lead to 7-2 on the second double of the day by junior Jordan Leinweber (Castle Rock, CO/Douglas County) and an RBI single by senior Nick Richter (Fox River Grove, Ill./Cary-Grove). “It was nice to pick up those two runs in the seventh,” Davis said.

Richter scored two runs out of the leadoff spot Sunday.

The Broncs' defense stopped a St. John's rally in the fifth inning with a double play after St. John's scored a run on two hits, a walk and a sacrifice fly, cutting the Rider lead to 5-2. “That was a big double play,” Davis said.

Rider scored three runs in the fifth inning on two hits and two errors, a double by Leinweber and an RBI single by senior Justin Thomas (Richboro, PA/Council Rock South), to take a 5-1 lead. “We were able to separate ourselves,” Davis said.

Thomas had two of Rider's eight hits, as did senior Greg Fazio (Far Hills/Ridge).

The Broncs took a 2-1 lead in the second inning when junior Patrick Murphy (McHenry, Ill./McHenry) singled, Fazio doubled and senior Mike Parsons (Liverpool, NY) hit a sacrifice fly. “It helped to get two runs in the second and take the lead early,” Davis said. “Fazio's hit was big. Fazio, Justin (Thomas) and Jordan (Leinweber) had good days for us.”

Sophomore Josh Sharik (Ewing, NJ/Plumstead Christian) pitched two and two-thirds innings of scoreless, hitless relief. “Sharik came in and did a great job,” Davis said.

Bronc closer senior Eric Thomas (Dallastown, PA/Dallastown Area) finished the non-save situation with a scoreless ninth. “We feel very comfortable with Eric,” Davis said. “He threw strikes and got a couple strikeouts today.”

St. John's (12-10) took a 1-0 lead in the first inning on a triple and a ground out RBI.

St. John's is picked to win the BIG EAST this year after finishing second (13-5) last year when the Red Storm finished 35-20.

“We played defense today when we needed to and we pitched when we needed to pitch,” Davis said. “We did enough to beat a good team.”

Rider and St. John's have now met 38 times since the series began in 1929, with the Red Storm holding a 26-12 advantage. Three of those St. John victories came in the NCAA tournament, two in 1986 and one in 1985.

The game saw the return of sophomore Lee Lipinski (Glen Arm, MD/Calvert), who collected an RBI Sunday.  Lipinski lost several teeth when he was struck in the face by a pitch just five days ago. 

“He's a tough kid,” Davis said of his catcher/designated hitter.  “We wanted to get him in there today to get some swings and it was good to get him back in the lineup. He helps us. He got an RBI today.”

Rider plays at Seton Hall Tuesday. “Another good team,” Davis said.  “The schedule is still very competitive.”

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