LAWRENCEVILLE, NJ– The Rider University Baseball team continued its strong start to MAAC play, sweeping its doubleheader vs Saint Peter's on Friday afternoon, winning game one 8-7 and game two 10-8. With the wins. Rider moves to 8-14 and 5-0 in the MAAC while Saint Peter's falls to 7-21 and 1-4 in conference.

The first three frames of game one were highlighted by strong pitching from PJ Craig (Barnegat, NJ/Barnegat). Craig sat down the Peacocks in order in the first and second innings and blanked Saint Peter's in the third to start the afternoon for Rider. Craig's strong start allowed Rider to strike first offensively as doubles from Kyle Neri (Williamstown, N.J./St. Augustine Prep|Bryant) and Anthony Paskell (Solon, OH/Saint Ignatius) got the Broncs the lead in the second. 

Saint Peter's were able to get on the board in the top of the fourth however the Broncs responded with a pair of runs in the bottom half of the inning. Rider kicked off the frame with back-to-back knocks from Joe Tiroly (Yardley, PA/Pennsbury) and Justin Costanzo (East Greenwich, N.J./Gloucester Catholic|Widener) and the pair would both come into score thanks in part to RBIs from Paskell and Brian Skettini (Midland Park, NJ/ Ridgewood) extending their lead to 3-1.

The first matchup started to turn in favor of the Peacocks after driving in five runs in the next two innings including a massive fifth inning scoring four runs in the process taking a 6-3 lead late in the ball game. In the bottom of the sixth Luke Lesch (Gloucester, NJ / Gloucester Catholic) did his part to get Rider's lead back driving in a pair of runs on a ball that was dropped in right field, cutting Saint Peter's lead to one.

In the ninth inning, Saint Peter's tallied their seventh run of the game to gain some insurance in the final inning however the Broncs fight was not over. Rider scored three runs in the ninth inning starting with Paskell driving in his third and fourth RBIs of the game to tie things at seven. A moment later, Jack Winsett (Voorhees, NJ/Eastern Regional) brought Paskell home walking off the Peacocks 8-7 in the first game of the doubleheader. 

In game two, Saint Peters popped off for a run in the first and a trio of runs in the top of the second however Rider again answered the offense by the opposition, tying the game with a three-run bottom of the third. Rider started the inning with three straight batters reaching safely including Winsett driving in the first run with a base hit to right field. Kyle Neri's big bat returned to cap off the inning when he doubled to right center scoring Winsett to make it a one-run game. 

Saint Peter's strong day at the plate continued when they secured their second of three multi-run innings in the fourth responding with another pair of runs to score. 

Rider, however, stepped on the gas pedal in the last four innings scoring a combined seven of their ten runs in the second half of the ballgame. The Broncs' scoring started in the biggest of ways with Matt Shepherd (Drexel Hill, PA/Monsignor Bonner|RCSJ) drilling a ball to left picking up his first home run of the year. Rider added another run in the fifth making it a one-run game as Winsett was driven in for the second time on the afternoon.

In the sixth, Shepherd drove in Paskell for his second RBI of the contest making the game even at six. 

Rider finally took the lead in game two with a big seventh inning, highlighted by Matt Leahy (Woolwich, NJ/Gloucester Catholic) scoring a pair of runners to extend the Broncs lead to three following a sacrifice fly from Costanzo. The Broncs scoring concluded in the eighth when Lesch brought home Winsett extending Rider's lead to four, 10-6.

Following back-to-back punchouts from former Peacock Christian Coombes, (Ontario, Canada/Parkside Collegiate Institute|Saint Peters) Saint Peter's drove in a pair of runs to break up Coombes' string of scoreless innings and making it a two-run game in the ninth. However, the Broncs turned to Colby McNeely (Milmont Park, PA/The Haverford School) who struck out the final batter of the afternoon securing his second save of the week, and the win for Rider 10-8.

Quotes and Notes
"You always want to win, I don't know if we played our best baseball but we got some clutch hits and we stayed after it on offense. We had a couple of big hits in both games with Paskell's two-RBI hit, and Leahy's to get us to nine and they ended up being a big difference." – Rider Baseball Head Coach Dr. Barry Davis
 

• Jake Dorety (Burlington, NJ/Burlington Twp.) got the win in game one pitching 3.2 innings with only one earned run on three hits.
• Coombes got the win in game two, going four innings including three scoreless innings with five strikeouts.
• Craig got the start in game one pitching 5.1 innings. 
• Clayton Poliey (Ringwood, NJ/Don Bosco Prep) got the game two start pitching 4.2 innings with seven strikeouts.
• McNeely got his second save of the year pitching one-third of an inning with a strikeout

Broncs by the Numbers
 - Rider had 21 hits on the day with every member of the starting lineups recording at least one hit in the two games. 
- Each of the first five batters in the lineup in game two recorded an RBI. 
- Winsett had multiple hits in each contest going 2-for-4 and 3-for-4 in games one and two respectively. Winsett also moved his on-base streak to eight games
- Skettini moved his on-base streak to 15, and his hit streak to six games.
- Skettini also moves his RBI streak to six games.
- Costanzo also moved his on-base streak to 15 games. 


Up Next
The Broncs continue their MAAC home opening series with Saint Peters on Saturday, March 30th.