Lawrenceville, NJ – The Rider University baseball team fell to visiting Lehigh, 5-3, on Tuesday afternoon in non-conference action as part of the Liberty Bell Classic at Sonny Pittaro Field.

The Broncs (5-15) fell in their home opener, while the Mountain Hawks (10-12) have won two of their last three road games.

Lehigh took advantage of Rider miscues as all five of their runs in the game were unearned. The Mountain Hawks jumped out to an early 3-0 lead after two thanks to a pair of Bronc errors and timely two-out hitting.

Rider clawed back in the back in the game with a run in third as senior Jake Bender (Ellicott City, MD/Marriotts Ridge) scored on a passed ball. The Broncs knotted the tilt at three with two runs in fourth inning.

Rider freshman Jake Barbiere (Randolph, NJ/Randolph) made it a one-run game at 3-2 with an RBI ground out and senior Christian Estevez (River Edge, NJ/River Dell) brought Kyle Johnson (Jackson, NJ/Jackson Memorial) racing home with the tying run on a suicide squeeze.

Lehigh took the lead for good in the fifth on a sac fly and the Mountain Hawks added an insurance run in the eighth as a runner scored from second on a passed ball.

At the plate, Johnson paced the Rider attack with two of the team's five hits.  

On the mound, freshman Joe Papeo (Matawan, NJ/Old Bridge) was saddled with the loss. Papeo worked four and a third innings and allowed four runs (none of which were earned). He scattered five hits and struck out two Mountain Hawks.

NOTES & QUOTES
"We know that when Joe pitches, you're going to have to catch the ball behind him. He's not a strikeout guy. Today, we didn't catch it. We gave them extra outs. We tried to choreograph our bullpen today where all those guys could give us an inning." – Rider Head Coach Barry Davis

"Defensively, this was really our first time on the field this year. However, the same mistakes we made here we've made on turf as well. We just didn't make the plays. It's hurt us this season and it hurt us today. We battled back today. The inning where we came around to tie was a good inning. Having the days off probably hurt us. We were rested. I think in the long run these games will help because the team is seeing why we aren't winning. It's fundamentals. Simple, basic things." – Davis

- Rider had won their three previous home openers.
- Rider had just five hits and committed three errors. The Broncs also had two passed balls.
- It was just the third time this spring that the Broncs did not record more than five hits in a game.  

 BRONCS BY THE NUMBERS
- Johnson's multi-hit game was his fourth of the season.
- Anthony Arneth retired both the batters he faced out of the bullpen with one strikeout.
- Nick Payesko, Jordan Silverman and Zach Gakeler all tossed scoreless innings out of the bullpen.   

UP NEXT
Rider opens Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) play this weekend with a three-game series at home against Iona that gets underway with a single, nine-inning contest on Friday, March 30 at 3:00 pm.