Box Score College Baseball
Rider University 15, Lafayette College 4
EASTON, PA— Sophomore Lee Lipinski (Glen Arm, MD/Calvert) had three hits and four runs batted in to lead Rider to victory at Lafayette Wednesday.
The 15 runs is the most for Rider since defeating Radford 15-7 early in the 2013 season. “We swung the bats today,” said Rider head coach Barry Davis. “I think we had six doubles. A good day offensively for sure.”
The victory was the sixth straight for the Broncs (21-17, 9-3 MAAC) and the 17th win in the last 20 games. “We're playing better,” Davis said. “Even the games we lost (in the last 20) we were up 4-0 in all three of them.”
For Rider, senior Nick Richter (Fox River Grove, Ill./Cary-Grove) scored four runs, senior Greg Fazio (Far Hills/Ridge) had three hits and two RBI, senior Justin Thomas (Richboro, PA/Council Rock South) had two hits and two RBI, freshman Christian Estevez (River Edge, NJ/River Dell) had his first three collegiate hits and sophomore Brian Uliana (Bethlehem, PA/Freedom), who red-shirted his rookie season last year, had two hits and collected his first three collegiate RBI. Freshman Andrew Tumbelty (Westampton, NJ/Rancocas Valley) and freshman Teagan Piechnick (Canonsburg, PA/Canon-McMillan) collected their first collegiate hits.
“Christian Estevez played really well today, swung the bat and had some nice plays in the field,” Davis said, “Uliana did a nice job, Piechnick and Timbelty got hits, so it was a good day.”
Rider freshman CJ Hirschy (Toms River, NJ/Toms River East) pitched five innings, allowing four runs on six hits while striking out four to improve to 3-0. “CJ did the job,” Davis said. “He gave us five innings and did what he needed to do, what we needed him to do. He did a good job.”
Sophomore Tyler Kaiser (Moorestown, NJ/Moorestown) and junior James Locklear (Hamilton, NJ/Steinert) hit doubles in the fifth inning to give Rider a 10-4 lead
Lipinski and Fazio hit RBI doubles in the fourth inning for an 8-2 lead.
Thomas and Lipinski each hit two-run doubles in the second inning to give Rider a 6-1 lead.
RBI singles by Lipinski and Fazio gave Rider a 2-0 lead in the top of the first inning. “Big day for Lipinski,” Davis said.
Rider and Lafayette (11-23, 9-11 Patriot League) were snowed-out earlier this season. Last season one game with Lafayette was snowed out and the other was rained out. Rider defeated Lafayette twice in 2013. The former conference rivals (MAC and ECC) have now met 79 times since the series began in 1947, with Rider holding a 43-36 advantage in the series.
Rider travels to Manhattan for a three-game MAAC series beginning with a 2pm doubleheader on Saturday. “We have been playing good fundamental baseball and we have to keep doing what we're doing,” Davis said. “We have a big series this weekend and we have to play at a high level.”
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