Box Score 1 |
Box Score 2 College Baseball
Rider University 20, Siena College 7
Siena College 5, Rider University 0
LAWRENCEVILLE, NJ—The good news is that the Rider baseball team scored 20 runs in a Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference doubleheader Saturday. The bad news is that all 20 runs were in one game. “I wish we could have spread that out over the course of the entire day,” said Rider head coach Barry Davis.
Rider (14-27, 6-9 MAAC) split a MAAC doubleheader with Siena (15-27, 9-6 MAAC) to salvage one win in the three-game series.
In the second game Saturday, Rider batted around in an inning twice, erupting for six runs in the sixth inning to take an 8-6 lead and 10 runs in the eighth inning to put the game away. “We put some hits together,” Davis said. “Everybody contributed. It was nice to do that. It was a must win and we got it.”
In the sixth inning, sophomore Jake Bender (Ellicot, Md./Marriotts Ridge) hit a two-run double to tie the score at 6-6. “That was a big hit,” Davis said. Bender had three hits and five RBI in the second game and four hits on the day.
Also in the sixth inning junior Tyler Kaiser (Moorestown, NJ/Moorestown) had two of Rider's four hits in the inning, including a two-run double that broke the 6-6 tie.
Rider junior Josh Sharik (Ewing, NJ/Plumstead Christian) pitched three and one-third innings of scoreless relief, allowing just one hit for his first win of the season. “Josh has done a great job,” Davis said. “He put up some zeros and allowed us to get back in the game.”
Sophomore Brian Uliana (Bethlehem, PA/Freedom) had three hits and reached base all five of his at bats. Senior James Locklear (Hamilton, NJ/Steinert) had three hits in the second game and now has 170 career hits, 30th most ever at Rider.
Freshman Riley Mihalik (Churchville, PA/Chestnut Hill) was three for three with a two-run home run that cut the Siena lead to 4-2 in the fourth inning. “It's been a while since I had a three-hit game,” said Mihalik, who is batting .500 (9-18) over his last six games with three doubles, two home runs and five RBI in those six games. “He's been hot,” Davis said. “We look for him to be a big hitter for us in the future.”
“It is hard making the adjustment from high school to college, especially Division I, but it is finally clicking,” Mihalik said. “It took me a little bit to figure it out.”
In the first game Rider managed just two hits, while Siena scored a run on two hits in the second inning and three runs in the third inning on four more hits. “We didn't hit and we gave them a couple of runs in the first game,” Davis said.
Rider was rained out at Siena last season. In the 2015 MAAC Championship Tournament the fourth seeded Saints upset the top seeded Broncs 5-4 in the second round.
The last time Siena came to Lawrenceville the Saints won two of three games with Rider. The Broncs lead the all-time series 33-32.
The Broncs travel to Quinnipiac for a three-game MAAC series May 7-8, Rider's final road series of the season. Rider is 4-5 on the road in the MAAC. “It is a must-win series up there,” Mihalik said. “We have to build on today.”
The Broncs have two home series remaining, Marist May 14-15 and Saint Peter's May 19-20.
The victory Saturday kept Rider's playoff hopes alive. “We have them,” Davis said. 'They are dwindling as we lose two out of three but we'll have to take the one win and go to Quinnipiac and see if we can play well up there.”
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