College Baseball

Manhattan College 10, Rider University 7

FISHKILL, NY—The Broncs had their eight game winning streak come to an end with a Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference loss to Manhattan Sunday at Dutchess Stadium, site of the 2015 MAAC Championship Tournament.

Rider (23-18, 11-4 MAAC) committed five errors and gave up 13 hits.  “We made some mistakes today,” said Rider head coach Barry Davis.  “We didn't play good defense. We had two (Manhattan) runners picked off and threw it away, costing a run or two.”

Manhattan (15-30, 8-13 MAAC) scored three runs in the eighth inning, all with two outs, to take a 10-6 lead.

Rider red-shirt freshman Brian Uliana (Bethlehem, PA/Freedom) hit his first collegiate home run and his third hit of the game to cut the lead to 7-5 in the eighth inning, and the Broncs made it 7-6 on a ground out RBI by freshman Jake Bender (Ellicot, Md./Marriotts Ridge).

“Brian is doing a good job,” Davis said.  “He got in there yesterday and got a big hit. He did some things today. Not too many players get a bunt single and hit a home run in the same game.”

Rider scored three runs in the seventh inning on a triple by senior Eric Strano (Robbinsville), an RBI single by freshman Christian Estevez (River Edge, NJ/River Dell) and an RBI double by junior James Locklear (Hamilton, NJ/Steinert). 

Locklear had three of Rider's 12 hits. “He's hitting the ball, spraying it around,” Davis said. “He's doing a good job.”

Senior Justin Thomas (Richboro, PA/Council Rock South) hit his second home run of the weekend, cutting the Manhattan lead to 4-1. “He just missed a third one,” Davis said. “He can certainly drive it.”

Manhattan scored three runs in the second inning on two hits, a walk, a hit batter and a pair of wild pitches. “We spent the whole day playing catch-up,” Davis said. “And once we caught up we couldn't hold them.”

Rider scored six runs in the last three innings, but it was not enough.  “We can do that,” Davis said of the Broncs' comeback effort. “We're starting to find ourselves offensively a little bit.”

With Rider's doubleheader sweep on Saturday the Broncs won the series, the fifth time in six MAAC series this year with two remaining.

Manhattan won the series at Rider last year, the first time since 2009 that Manhattan won the series with Rider. Last year two of the three games went extra innings.

Manhattan won the MAAC Championship in 2012 and 2011. Rider won the MAAC Title in 2010.

 With the win Manhattan leads the all-time series with Rider 31-30.

The Broncs are now off for exams until next weekend when Rider hosts Quinnipiac in a MAAC series beginning with a 12 noon doubleheader on Saturday.

“Quinnipiac is in the playoff mix,” Davis said.  “This is a big series.”

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