SOUTH ORANGE, NJ – The Rider University baseball team saw its late rally fall short in a 5-3 loss against Seton Hall on Tuesday afternoon in non-conference action at Owen T. Carroll Field.

The Broncs (11-30) dropped their fifth straight contest, while the Pirates (24-16-1) won their third game in a row.

Trailing by four runs at 5-1 in the top of the ninth the first two Rider players to come to the plate reached base thanks to a leadoff walk and a double. With two runners in scoring position, sophomore Kyle Johnson (Jackson, NJ/Jackson) delivered an RBI single to right and after a pop out junior Richie Tecco (Drexel Hill, PA/Monsignor Bonner) hit a sac fly to center.

Senior Christian Estevez (River Edge, NJ/River Dell) kept the rally going with a single to left. The game to an end as Johnson was caught stealing third.

On the mound, freshman Joe Papeo (Matawan, NJ/Old Bridge) got the start and was saddled with the loss. He worked four and two-thirds innings and surrendered three earned runs.

NOTES & QUOTES
"I think it was a bad call at third to end it. Overall, we battled and played fairly well today. We made a base running mistake and it cost us a chance to score early. Add an error and six walks and it becomes difficult to win." – Rider Head Coach Barry Davis

"We prevented the big inning all game giving us an opportunity to tie and possibly go ahead. After a tough weekend, I thought we bounced back well." – Davis

- Rider is now 4-22 on the road this season and 6-24 overall outside of Lawrenceville.
- The Broncs had seven hits and committed two errors defensively.
- Rider's last five non-conference games have been decided by two runs or fewer. The Broncs have dropped all five of those tilts.

BRONCS BY THE NUMBERS
- Sophomore Kyle Johnson led the Rider attack, going 2-for-4 with a double and an RBI. Johnson now has 91 career hits. The multi-hit game was his tenth of the season and second in a row. Johnson extended his hitting streak to six games.
- Sophomore Joe Simone also had a multi-hit game, going 2-for-3 with a double and a run scored out of the leadoff spot. It was team-leading 17th multi-hit game of the spring. He leads the team with 52 hits, 13 doubles and 29 runs scored.
- In relief, Nick Payesko worked a perfect 1-2-3 inning.
- Anthony Arneth also tossed a scoreless third of an inning.
- Out of the pen, Zach Gakeler pitched a scoreless inning and a third.

UP NEXT
Rider returns to action after graduation. The Broncs will travel to western New York for a three-game series with Niagara. The series gets underway on Saturday, May 12, with a single, nine-inning contest that gets underway at 4:00 pm.