LAWRENCEVILLE, NJ – Seven different Broncs had multiple hits and the Rider University baseball team got a pair of strong starting pitching performances in a doubleheader sweep of Saint Peter's Saturday.
Pete Soporowski (Sayreville, NJ/Sayreville War Memorial) punched out 13 Peacocks in a Game 1 5-0 shutout, before the Broncs' offense erupted for 12 runs on 15 hits in a 12-2 Game 2 win abbreviated to eight innings by the mercy rule. With the wins, Rider improves to 15-13, while the Peacocks drop to 2-14.
Both pitchers hung zeroes on the board until the sixth inning of Game 1. Saint Peter's starter Ian Concevitch carried a no-hit bid into the sixth, before
Lou Priolo (Voorhees, NJ/Eastern) broke it up with a leadoff single. A bloop single from
Scott Shaw (Cherry Hill, NJ/Cherry Hill High School West) put runners on first and second, before both runners moved up on a wild pitch.
Brian Skettini (Midland Park, NJ/Ridgewood) drove in the first run with a single to center, before consecutive Concevitch errors allowed the Broncs' second and third runs to score.
John Volpe (Sea Girt, NJ/Wall) then ripped a two-run single through the right side to make it 5-0 after six. Soporowski then worked a 1-2-3 top of the seventh to finish his complete-game, three-hit shutout.
Rider opened the scoring in the second inning of Game 2, with
Luke Lesch (Gloucester Township, NJ/Gloucester Catholic),
Jake Barbiere (Stratford, NJ/Sterling) and Volpe all delivering RBI base hits. After Saint Peter's scratched across a run in the top of the third, Rider responded with two more in the bottom of the frame, with
Sean McGeehan (Hamilton, NJ/Nottingham) and
Socrates Bardatsos (Ridgefield, NJ/St. Joseph's Regional) each hitting RBI doubles. McGeehan's RBI single in the fourth made it 6-1 Rider before the Peacocks got a bases-loaded walk in the seventh to cut the Broncs' advantage to 6-2.
But Rider would score five runs in the bottom of the seventh. Lesch hit an RBI double to begin the scoring, before four more runs scored on a wild pitch, a passed ball and a dropped pop fly. The game ended in the eighth on a Saint Peter's throwing error that allowed the 12
th Rider run to score.
Notes
- Soporowski limited Saint Peter's to just three hits and two walks, while striking out 13. The 13 punchouts are his most since a 15-strikeout game on March 23, 2019, against Niagara.
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Kyle Smith (Stratford, NJ/Sterling) started Game 2 and went 5.0 innings to pick up the win, allowing just one unearned run on three hits and a walk, while striking out four.
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Frank DelGuercio (Millstone, NJ/The Hun School of Princeton) allowed one earned run on three walks in 1.2 innings of relief. He struck out one.
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Ben Waxler (Brandon, FL/IMG Academy) pitched the final 1.1 innings without a run being charged to him, scattering a hit and two walks, while striking out one.
- The Broncs and Peacocks complete their four-game series with a Sunday doubleheader scheduled for a noon first pitch.
Broncs by the Numbers
- Volpe led the Broncs' offense with three hits, three RBI's and a run scored.
- Skettini also had three hits, a team-best three runs scored and an RBI.
- Barbiere contributed three hits, two runs and an RBI. He also walked twice.
- Lesch went 3-for-6 with two doubles, two RBI's, two runs scored, a walk and a hit-by-pitch.
- Bardatsos doubled twice, scored a run and drove in one.
- Shaw and McGeehan also had two hits apiece. Both doubled once, while McGeehan drove in two and scored a run. Shaw scored twice.
- Priolo added a hit and two runs scored.
