College Baseball

Quinnipiac University 9, Rider University 7

LAWRENCEVILLE, NJ—The home field winning streak came to an end with a Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference loss to Quinnipiac Sunday.

The loss was just the fifth for Rider (25-19, 13-5 MAAC) since March 28 (21-5) and the first of the season at home (11-1). “Even those five games that we lost we were in the game,” said Rider head coach Barry Davis. “Every game you play you want to be in the game and be competitive, and we have been.”

With the doubleheader win on Saturday Rider wins the series two games to one, the fifth series win out of six with one MAAC series remaining.

Quinnipiac (25-23, 15-9 MAAC) scored three runs in the seventh inning on three hits, including a two-run home run, the fourth home run of the game for the Bobcats, to take a 9-6 lead. It was Quinnipiac's first lead of the weekend. “The home run with two-outs that made it 9-6 was the big blow,” Davis said.

Rider cut the lead to 9-7 in the bottom of the seventh when senior Greg Fazio (Far Hills/Ridge) hit a two-out single and scored from first on a double by junior Patrick Murphy (McHenry, Ill./McHenry). Fazio had two hits and two runs scored in the game.

Quinnipiac scored three runs in the fifth inning on three hits, including back-to-back solo home runs, to cut the Rider lead to 6-5, and tied the score at 6-6 in the sixth with the second home run of the game by Bobcat third baseman Ben Gibson.

The Broncs scored four runs in the second inning on four hits, including a two-run double by senior Mike Parsons (Liverpool, NY) and an RBI double by sophomore Lee Lipinski (Glen Arm, MD/Calvert) to take a 5-0 lead.

Fazio doubled and scored on an RBI single by Lipinski for a 6-0 lead. “When you take a 6-0 lead you have to close that out,” Davis said. “We didn't do it.”

Quinnipiac got on the board in the fourth inning with two runs on a walk, a triple and a single, cutting the lead to 6-2.

Rider senior Nick Richter (Fox River Grove, Ill./Cary-Grove) singled, was sacrificed to second, stole third and scored on a ground out for a 1-0 lead in the first inning.  “Just trying to help the team win,” said Richter, who led all of NCAA Division I in stolen bases last year with a Rider-record 41. 

“Nick is a good player,” Davis said.  “He's a clutch player who has been pretty steady for us, at the plate and in the field, as well as on the bases.”

Richter had four of Rider's 13 hits. “He can't do it by himself,” Davis said. “When you score seven runs and collect 13 hits you should win the ball game.”

“We won the series, and that was our main goal,” Richter said. “We just have to keep it going for Monmouth next week.”

Rider and Quinnipiac have now met six times since the series began in 2002 with Rider winning the first five.

Rider will host La Salle in the final non-conference game of the regular season Tuesday at 3pm. The final weekend of the regular season will begin Thursday with a 12 noon start against Monmouth. Friday is Rider's graduation, and Saturday the doubleheader will start with the seven-inning game at 12 noon.

Rider will compete in the six-team MAAC Championship Tournament May 20-23 in Fishkill, NY's Dutchess Stadium.

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