LAWRENCEVILLE, NJ – 10 different Broncs had at least two hits as the Rider University baseball team swept Niagara in a MAAC Championship Quarterfinal doubleheader Thursday afternoon on Sonny Pittaro Field. With the sweep, the Broncs (20-16) take the best-of-three series and move on to the MAAC Championship Round, to be played in a double-elimination format next Wednesday through Saturday. Niagara concludes its season at 17-17.  

Niagara struck first in Game 1 on a solo home run in the first from Dawson Bailey, but the Broncs responded with four in the bottom of the inning, all scored with two outs. Tyler Stockwell (La Plata, MD/La Plata High School) walked with the bases loaded to score Kyle Johnson (Jackson, NJ/Jackson Memorial), before Luke Lesch (Gloucester Township, NJ/Gloucester Catholic) singled home two more. Lou Priolo (Voorhees, NJ/Eastern) capped the scoring with an RBI single. The Broncs tacked on three more in the second, with Sean McGeehan's (Hamilton, NJ/Nottingham) sacrifice fly scoring Johnson and Stockwell driving in two more with a double to make it 7-1 Rider.

The Purple Eagles got a run back in the third on Cole Tucker's RBI double. But Pete Soporowski (Sayreville, NJ/Sayreville War Memorial) prevented further damage with an assist from Priolo on a flyout double play, as Priolo easily threw out Cole O'Connor attempting to score from third on a fly to medium-depth right field. In the fifth, O'Connor drove in a run with a single to cut the Broncs' lead to 7-3. But the Broncs responded with three runs in the bottom of the frame on McGeehan's two-run single and another RBI single from Scott Shaw (Cherry Hill, NJ/Cherry Hill High School West), pushing the advantage to 10-3. The Purple Eagles got another in the top of the seventh on Tucker's RBI's single to make it 10-4. The Broncs would plate two more runs in the seventh and close out the 12-4 win.

The Game 2 scoring started similarly to Game 1, with Max Giordano hitting a solo homer to left to put Niagara on top, 1-0. But Rider evened the score in the bottom of the inning as Brian Skettini (Midland Park, NJ/Ridgewood) singled, took second on a walk, moved to third on a sacrifice bunt and scored on a Priolo groundout. The Broncs added two more in the third on a Socrates Bardatsos (Ridgefield, NJ/St. Joseph's Regional) RBI single and a David Bermudez (East Brunswick, NJ/East Brunswick) sacrifice fly to make it 3-1.

The Broncs kept the pressure on with Bardatsos' second RBI of the game on a single to left in the fifth to make it 4-1. A sacrifice fly for Niagara in the sixth cut the Broncs' lead to 4-2, before Rider again responded with three more in the bottom of the inning. Bardatsos tripled home two, before scoring on a Skettini single to make it 7-2. The advantage swelled to 8-2 on Lesch's solo home run to right in the seventh. Niagara would score twice on a two-run home run in the eighth and add another solo home run in the ninth. But Cal Stalzer (West Des Moines, IA/Valley) recorded wrapped up a 4.0-inning save on the mound to close out the Purple Eagles.

Quotes & Notes
"We are excited to have the opportunity to advance."

"I thought offensively, we executed the bunt game very well, we hit with two strikes, we hit with two outs and those are the types of things you need to do to win tournament baseball."

"Pete and Frank didn't have their best stuff today, but they battled and, again, those are the types of performances you need. Cal and Danny did a great job out of the pen."  – Rider Head Coach Barry Davis

- Soporowski went 7.0 innings in Game 1 to pick up the win. He allowed four earned runs on 11 hits and a walk, while striking out three.
- Danny Kirwin (Lansdale, PA/North Penn) pitched the final two innings without allowing a run or hit, limiting the Purple Eagles to just one walk.
- Frank Doelling (Riverside, NJ/Riverside) picked up the Game 2 win, allowing two earned runs in 5.0 innings pitched. He scattered eight hits and a walk and struck out three.
- Stalzer secured his team-leading fourth save of the year, allowing three earned runs on five hits without walking a batter in 4.0 innings pitched. He struck out two.
- The Broncs now await their MAAC Championship Round opponent. What's known is that the first game will be played on Wednesday, May 26 at 3 p.m. at Fairfield's Alumni Diamond. The Stags face the lowest-remaining seed in the tournament in Wednesday's first game at 11 a.m., while the Broncs will face either second-seeded Monmouth, should the Hawks win their series with seventh-seeded Siena, or the winner of the Marist-Canisius series in the event that Siena defeats Monmouth.
- Top-seeded Fairfield swept its series with No. 8 Manhattan to move on to the Championship Round.
- No. 4 Canisius and No. 5 Marist split two games and will play a winner-take-all Game 3 tomorrow in Buffalo.
- No. 2 Monmouth and No. 7 Siena open their best-of-three series tomorrow in West Long Branch.   

Broncs by the Numbers
- The Broncs scored 20 runs on 28 hits on the day.
- As a team, Rider posted a .488 on-base percentage, hitting .412 with seven extra-base hits, seven walks and five hit batsmen.
- Jake Barbiere (Stratford, NJ/Sterling) led the Broncs with four hits and five runs scored on the day. He also drove in a run.
- Shaw, Bardatsos, Priolo, Jordan Erbe (Toms River, NJ/Toms River South) and Johnson each had three hits.
- Skettini, Bermudez and McGeehan contributed two hits apiece.
- Bardatsos and McGeehan led Rider with four RBI's each, while Stockwell and Lesch each drove in three.
- Johnson scored three runs, while Shaw, Priolo, Erbe, and McGeehan scored twice each.
- McGeehan was 2-for-2 on stolen-base attempts.