Box Score 1 |
Box Score 2 College Baseball
Saint Peter's University 8, Rider University 7 (8 innings)
Rider University 13, Saint Peter's University 11
LAWRENCEVILLE, NJ—The 2016 Rider University baseball season came to an end Friday with a doubleheader split with Saint Peter's University. With the split Rider wins the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference series two games to one.
“It's always good to finish on a strong note,” said Rider head coach Barry Davis.
In the second game of the day and the third game of the series, Rider (18-33, 10-14 MAAC) broke a 7-7 tie with three runs in the fourth inning on three hits, including a three-run home run by freshman Riley Mihalik (Churchville, PA/Chestnut Hill). Mihalik had five RBI in the game and had four hits on the day.
Mihalik and sophomore Jake Bender (Ellicot, Md./Marriotts Ridge) each had three hits in the season finale. Bender finished the season with a team-high 52 hits.
Rider junior Dalton Mayberry (Chadds Ford, PA/Garnett Valley) had two hits, including a two-run home run in the seventh inning to give Rider a 13-10 lead.
Senior James Locklear (Hamilton, NJ/Steinert), in his final game, had two hits and had four hits on the day and six hits in the series. “He has always been a good hitter,” Davis said.
“I've been swinging the bat well the last couple of series,” Locklear said. “I was hoping to continue that into my last college baseball series. I just wanted to come out this series and have fun. We won the series and we had fun.”
Locklear finishes his career with 184 hits, 22nd most ever. “He had a great career,” Davis said.
In Friday's first game, Saint Peter's (10-42, 5-19 MAAC) scored an unearned run in the eighth inning of the scheduled seven inning contest.
The Broncs tied the score at 7-7 in the seventh inning when freshman Jack Finn (Ellicott City, MD/Calvert Hall) singled, stole second and third and scored on a sacrifice fly by Bender. Finn had two of Rider's nine hits and had four hits on the day, as did junior Mike Volaski (Oxnard, CA/Oxnard).
Rider junior Lee Lipinski (Glen Arm, MD/Calvert) hit his team-high fifth home run of the season in the fourth inning to cut the lead to 4-3.
The Broncs say goodbye to Locklear and senior Patrick Murphy (McHenry, Ill./McHenry). “It was nice for Lock and Pat to go out winners today,” Davis said.
-ru-
