POMONA, NY – The Rider University baseball team had a wild Friday, first waking up for a 9 a.m. showdown against Canisius in the winner's bracket of the MAAC Tournament, falling in a hard-fought 11-9 game, before beginning an elimination Game against Niagara at 11 p.m. The Broncs held a 5-3 lead at the end of the fourth, when the game was suspended due to lightning in the area.
 
Rider started strong in game one, opening the scoring in the second. Brian Skettini (Midland Park, NJ/Ridgewood) led off the inning with a walk. Jake Barbiere (Randolph, NJ/Randolph) followed with a single through hole on the right side. Alex Diamantis (Staten Island, NY/St. Peter's Boys) then laid down a sacrifice bunt that was so good he beat the wild throw to first, and the throw went up the line, allowing everyone to take an additional base, scoring Skettini. Barbiere would come in to score on an RBI ground out from Scott Shaw (Cherry Hill, NJ/Cherry Hill West).
 
Rider continued to take advantage of free base runners in the third. Socrates Bardatsos (Ridgefield, NJ/St. Joseph's Regional) led off the inning with a walk. Two batters later, Brendan O'Donnell (Malvern, PA/Great Valley) punched one to the opposite field over the short porch in right for a two-run home run.
 
Canisius came storming back, scoring two in the fourth on four hits and adding another in the fifth to cut the Rider lead to 4-3.
 
In the sixth, the Broncs got a run back on a sacrifice fly by Shaw. In the bottom of the sixth, Canisius broke the game open, scoring five runs on the strength of five hits, a walk, and two hit batters, taking an 8-5 lead.
 
Both sides used the long ball in the seventh. After a Jack Winsett (Voorhees, NJ/Eastern Regional) walk to lead off the inning, Bardatsos found the short porch, turning on a pitch while batting from the left side, and trimming the deficit to 8-7. The Golden Griffins got their response in the bottom half off the bat of MAAC Player of the Year Max Grant, who hit a towering home run to right center, extending the lead back to two.
 
In the eighth, Canisius added a pair of insurance runs, extending the lead to 11-7.
 
The Broncs attempted to rally in the ninth, Luke Lesch (Gloucester Township, NJ/Gloucester Catholic) hit a one-out single up the middle. O'Donnell dropped in a double down the left field line, followed by a sacrifice fly that scored Lesch. O'Donnell would come in to score on a balk, but MAAC Rookie and Relief Pitcher of the Year Peyton Consigli got the strikeout to end the game.
 
Game two got off to a shaky start, as Niagara, who entered the game fresh off an elimination game that took over eight hours to complete due to over four hours worth of weather delays, scored twice in the top of the first.
 
In the second, O'Donnell homered to the short porch in right, cutting the lead to 2-1.
 
Rider broke the game open in the bottom of the third. First, Winsett tied the game with a towering home run that cleared the short porch and bounced once on the catwalk behind before leaving the ballpark completely. John Volpe (Sea Girt, NJ/Wall) followed with an infield single. The Purple Eagles pitcher attempted a pickoff that went up the line, allowing Volpe to advance to third. With two outs, Volpe broke for the plate and was tagged out, but the base umpires called a balk, allowing Volpe to score and give the Broncs a 3-2 advantage. After a walk to Lesch, O'Donnell came through with another home run, this time pulling a ball over the fence in left.
 
Niagara scored an unearned run in the fourth, trimming the Rider lead to 5-3, which is where the game will pick up Saturday afternoon.
 
Quotes & Notes
- Dylan Heine (Haddonfield, NJ/Haddonfield) made the first start for the Broncs, going four innings, and allowing two runs on six hits. The junior struck out three and earned a no decision.
- Kyle Smith (Stratford, NJ/Sterling) tossed an inning in relief of game one, allowing one run on one hit. He struck out one and walked one. Smith came on again in game two, tossing the final 3.1 innings, allowing an unearned run on three hits and was the Rider pitcher when play was halted. He struck out three batters in game two.
- Danny Kirwin (Lansdale, PA/North Penn) allowed four runs on four hits in 1.2 innings, taking the game one loss. He struck out one.
- Brian Young (Neptune, NJ/Communication) tossed an inning against Canisius, allowing two runs on two hits. He struck out one.
- Alec Sachais (Egg Harbor Township, NJ/Holy Spirit) started game two, going 0.2 innings and allowing two runs on two hits.
- Lesch's first-inning single from game one is the 100^th hit of his career.
- O'Donnell's home run in game one is his 17^th of the season, tying the Rider single-season program record. He now shares the record with Ken Kremer, who hit his 17 in 1987, and Jason Koehler, who tied Kremer's record in 1995. His two home runs in game two gave him the outright record.
 
Broncs by the Numbers
- On the day, O'Donnell led the Broncs with six hits, including three home runs and a double. Lesch and Barbiere each had multiple hits throughout the day.
- O'Donnell had his team-high 18^th multi-hit game of the season against Canisius.
- Rider pitchers combined for nine strikeouts across the 12 innings of work.
- The Broncs totaled 15 hits across the two games.
- O'Donnell recorded a hit in each of his last six at bats.
 
Up Next
- Play is scheduled to resume Saturday at 2 p.m. where the Broncs will look to hold on to the lead and advance to the Championship Series against Canisius.