College Baseball

Rider University 3, Rutgers University 2

LAWRENCEVILLE, NJ—One of the things that makes baseball such a great game is that no matter how long you've been around the game, you can always see something that you've never seen before.

Such was the case Wednesday afternoon when Rider defeated Rutgers in the 2016 home opener.

The Broncs (3-14) scored two runs in the bottom of the ninth inning to win the game. Both runs came by way of a sacrifice fly. The SAME sacrifice fly. “You don't see that every day,” said Rider head coach Barry Davis.

Rider junior Tyler Kaiser (Moorestown, NJ/Moorestown) doubled and scored from second base on a sac fly to help Rider defeat the Scarlet Knights Wednesday. “I had no idea he was going to send me,” Kaiser said. “I was sprinting to third and when he sent me home I was still at full throttle. I was going full speed, good thing. I've never seen two runs score on a sac fly before.”

Rider junior Lee Lipinski (Glen Arm, MD/Calvert) doubled, his second double of the game, to lead off the ninth inning and was pinch run for by freshman Jack Finn (Ellicott City, MD/Calvert Hall). Kaiser followed with a double, but Finn was tagging on the fly ball and only advanced to third base.

Rider junior Mike Volaski (Oxnard, CA/Oxnard) then hit a towering fly ball to centerfield that both runners tagged up on. When the Rutgers centerfielder had trouble with his footing, running away from home plate to make the catch, third base coach Matt Maher sent Kaiser, who slide into home on a close play. “Kaiser read it right, as did Coach Maher,” Davis said. 

Kaiser hit a home run, his first of the season and the second of his career, in the fourth inning to tie the score at 1-1. “That was a 2-0 fastball, the coach gave me the green light and I was sitting dead red,” Kaiser said of the fastball he got in the fourth inning.  “He put it right down the middle.”

“He gets the bat head out and he's got some power,” Davis said of his junior designated hitter. “He had a good day today.”

Rutgers (8-11) took a 2-1 lead in the eighth inning on a solo home run by All-BIG 10 outfielder Tom Marcinszyk, who has four home runs on the season.  The Scarlet Knights took a 1-0 lead in the third inning on a single, a sacrifice bunt and an RBI groundout by Marcinszyk.

Rider freshman Brett Kosciolek (Nesquehoning, PA/Tamaqua) pitched seven innings, allowing just one run on four hits and struck out five. “That's the second time that's he's looked pretty good,” Davis said of his 6'7” right-hander. “I like what I see out of him. He's coming along.”

Sophomore Paul Sparano (Ewing, NJ/Ewing) pitched two innings of relief for the win, his first of the season.

Rider begins MAAC play this weekend with a three-game series at Monmouth beginning with a single game on Friday at 3pm.  “These conference games are big,” Davis said.  “We played well today and this could help us this weekend. Any time you win it helps things. We have a big challenge ahead of us.”

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