QUEENS, NY– The Rider University baseball team fell in their first contest of the weekend with St John's, 19-3. With the loss, Rider moves to 2-11, and the Red Storm move to 11-4.

The Red Storm took control early in the afternoon with a pair of runs scored in each of the first three innings to go ahead 6-0 in the first third of the ball game. The Rider offense did see a duo of good innings in the fourth and fifth to get back in the game. In the fourth inning, Rider kicked off the frame with three straight base hits including Luke Lesch (Gloucester Township, NJ/Gloucester Catholic) moving his hit streak to a team-best seven games. The Broncs drove across a pair of runs in the inning starting with Jack Winsett (Voorhees, NJ/Eastern Regional) who extended his RBI streak to five games scoring Lesch to get on the board for the first time in the contest. Justin Costanzo (East Greenwich, N.J./Gloucester Catholic[Widener]) added the inning's second run with his second extra-base hit of the year, scoring Erich Hartmann  (Medford, NJ/Shawnee) with an RBI double, making it a 6-2 game after four.

Brian Skettini (Midland Park, NJ/Ridgewood) looked to jump-start the Rider offense in the fifth, driving a ball to deep right-center field that stayed in play which Skettini turned into a one-out triple. Skettini was brought home moments later as Lesch brought in the Broncs' catcher to extend Skettini's run streak to seven straight. 

The Red Storm followed up the big innings with a massive eight-run frame in the bottom of the fifth, going up 11-3 after five. The Johnnies then added a run in the sixth and four in the seventh to secure their eighth-straight victory. 

"When it was 6 -3, we battled back, but we failed to make pitches. Preventing the big inning has been an issue all year. all we can do is battle through this right now. It's a character check for sure." – Rider Baseball Head Coach Dr. Barry Davis

- Christian Aiello (Hewitt, NJ/West Milford) received the loss, pitching 3.1 innings and allowing six runs on nine hits with a season-high six strikeouts. Aiello now leads the team with 18 on the season.

 - Rider had eight hits as Lesch, Winsett, Skettini, Hartmann, Costanzo, and Griffin Puvell (Thurmont, MD/Saint John's Catholic Prep) each recorded at least one hit in the contest.

- Lesch moved his on-base streak to 13 games and his hit streak to seven games

- Skettini has now scored in seven straight.

- Winsett has driven in a run in five-straight games.

- Costanzo went 2-for-3 with a pair of doubles in the contest

The Broncs remain at St John's to battle the Red Storm on Saturday at 1:00 PM