BASEBALL
March 29-30, 2019
Rider Broncs (8-14, 1-2 MAAC) vs. Siena Saints (4-16, 0-3 MAAC)
Location: Lawrenceville, NJ (Sonny Pittaro Field)
First Pitch Game One: 3:30 pm (Friday) (9 innings)
First Pitch Game Two: 12:00 pm (Saturday) (7 innings)
First Pitch Game Three: 2:30 pm (Saturday) (9 innings)
Live Stats: SidearmStats
Twitter: @RiderUBaseball

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW
- Rider returns home this weekend, March 29-30, for a three-game Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) series against Siena. The Broncs and Saints will play a single, nine-inning contest on Friday at 3:30 pm before a doubleheader on Saturday beginning at noon. The first game on Saturday will be seven innings.

- Last time out, Rider won a wild game with La Salle on Tuesday. The Broncs jumped out to a 7-0 before falling behind 11-10. In the top of eighth with two outs and runners on second and third, second basemen Zach Fick singled to right field to bring home both the Broncs in scoring position. Out of the bullpen, Andrew Imperatore, Danny Kirwin and Zach Gakeler got the final eight outs to seal the Bronc win.

- The Rider weekend rotation will be Pete Soporowski, Vincent Vitacco and Joe Papeo. Soporowski was stellar last week in the MAAC opener against Niagara. He tossed 7.2 innings and struck out a career-high 15 batters, while surrendering three earned runs and scattering six hits in the victory. The 15 strikeouts were the most by a MAAC pitcher since Matt Gage of Siena struck out 16 against St. Peter's in May of 2013. He enters the week fourth in the nation in strikeout-to-walk ratio (17.33). He is one of two pitchers in the MAAC with over 50 strikeouts this season. Soporowski is also one of just nine pitchers in all of Division I with 15 or more strikeouts in a game this season.

- Vitacco is coming off his strongest start of the spring last weekend against Niagara. He tossed a complete game and surrendered just one earned run, while striking out five batters and scattering seven hits.

- Offensively, last week it was a two-headed attack for the Broncs. Riley Mihalik and Jack Peterson had monster weeks from the middle of the lineup. Last week, Peterson hit .625 with 10 hits, 3 HR, 2 2B, 7 RBIs, 5 runs scored and a stolen base. He had two or more hits in game three times last week and registered an impressive 1.312 slugging percentage. In a non-conference win over LIU Brooklyn, he went 3-for-4 with an RBI double. In a weekend series with Niagara, he hit three home runs and recorded six RBIs. His best game of the week came on Sunday when he went 4-for-5 with 2 home runs, four RBIs and three runs scored.

- Mihalik is having a solid start to his senior season. He leads the MAAC in home runs with six. He is batting .337 with 17 runs scored and 19 RBIs. He has a .602 slugging percentage and .409 slugging percentage. Mihalik has gone 4-for-8 with 4 RBIs and two runs scored in his last two games.