College Baseball

Rider University 9, Monmouth University 2

LAWRENCEVILLE, NJ—The Broncs ended the regular season with a Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference victory over Monmouth Saturday afternoon on Senior Day.

With the win, Rider (28-20, 15-6 MAAC) wins the series for the sixth time in seven MAAC series this year. “Every weekend our goal is to win two out of three,” said Rider head coach Barry Davis, “and we did that again. We've been able to be consistent every weekend and the result is that we'll be the number one seed.”

Rider senior Kurt Sowa (Bensalem, PA/Fr. Judge) pitched six and two-thirds innings, striking out eight to improve to 4-3 on the season. “Kurt settled down after the third inning,” Davis said. “He pitched out of a couple of jams early.”

The victory was career win #22 for Sowa, the fourth most wins ever at Rider.

Rider sophomore reliever Josh Sharik (Ewing, NJ/Plumstead Christian) pitched a shutout inning of relief. “We feel comfortable going to Josh,” Davis said.  The appearance by Sharik was his 31st of the season, tying the Rider record set in 2010 by Tyler Smith. “He'll be counted on heavily this week in a relief role. It is nice to have a reliever who can come back and pitch almost every day, sometimes twice in the same day.”

Rider scored five runs in the fifth inning on three hits, including a three-run home run by senior Eric Strano (Robbinsville), the first of his career, to take an 8-2 lead. “Big hit by Eric,” Davis said.

“The first few at bats I saw some first-pitch fastballs and that at bat I jumped on one,” said Strano, who now has 120 hits in 140 games started.

Strano missed most of last season with an injury. “Just having Eric in the line-up has stabilized our defense,” Davis said, “and he's been swinging a hot bat.”  Strano came into the game batting .397 against MAAC pitchers.  “He's been a consistent hitter his entire career in clutch situations, and certainly today proved that.”

Sophomore Lee Lipinski (Glen Arm, MD/Calvert) hit a two-run home run in the fourth inning to give Rider a 3-2 lead. “We got a big hit from Lee,” Davis said. “That opened the door up a little bit.”

Lipinski had two of Rider's nine hits, as did senior Justin Thomas (Richboro, PA/Council Rock South) and senior Greg Fazio (Far Hills/Ridge).

The Broncs cut the lead to 2-1 in the third inning when senior Nick Richter (Fox River Grove, Ill./Cary-Grove) was hit by a pitch, stole second and scored on an RBI single by Thomas. Richter stole two bases and scored twice. Richter now has 23 stolen bases on the season and 64 thefts in 97 Rider games.

Monmouth (22-22, 14-10 MAAC) scored a run in the first inning on a walk and an RBI single and took a 2-0 lead in the third inning with a run on two hits, a walk and a ground out.

Rider is the top seed in the upcoming MAAC Championship Tournament, held May 20-23 at Dutchess Stadium in Fishkill, NY, and will play Wednesday at 7pm. “We just have to keep sticking with the process of playing well, pitching well and just trying to play good fundamental baseball,” Davis said. “For the most part we've done that this year.”

This is the second time in three years that Rider is the MAAC regular season champion.  The Broncs were devastated by injuries last season and missed the playoffs for the first time in seven years. “We're proud that we can contribute positively to the reputation of Rider baseball,” Strano said.  “Last year we really did feel that it was unacceptable to not be in the tournament. We feel we have a team this year that can do some damage in the postseason. We're happy to be in the MAAC Tournament.”

-ru-