ANNANDALE, NY- The Rider University baseball team had a successful Saturday afternoon in the Hudson Valley, picking up a pair of victories over the Marist Red Foxes. Rider wrapped up game one of the series, holding onto its 17-12 lead in the conclusion of yesterday's contest and followed it up with a 8-3 win to extend their MAAC win streak to 11. With the wins, Rider moves to 15-15 and 11-0 in the MAAC and Marist falls 11-22 and 4-7 in conference.
The Broncs started the day by finishing yesterday's contest as Colby McNeely closed out their first matchup with a strikeout, helping them secure a 17-12 win in game one.
Game two started with the Red Foxes getting retribution for the loss in the opener, scoring a pair of runs off a two-run home run in the bottom of the first. However, Rider answered the two-run homer with a pair of runs of their own in the second as Matt Shepherd (Drexel Hill, PA/Monsignor Bonner|Rowan College of South Jersey) added another RBI to his series to get Rider their first run of the game in the top of the second. Jack Winsett (Voorhees, NJ/Eastern) would match Shepherd's RBI knock with one of his own, tying the game at two a moment later.
Following the first inning, Rider starter Brian Young (Neptune, NJ/Communication HS) was stellar once again going seven innings with seven strikeouts and only allowing four hits on the day. Young also blanked the Red Foxes from the second to the sixth, allowing the Broncs to take the lead in the fifth. In the fifth, Rider saw Brian Skettini (Midland Park, NJ/Ridgewood) doubling to right field scoring Winsett to take a 3-2 lead. Skettini scored later on in the inning as Justin Costanzo (East Greenwich, N.J./Gloucester Catholic|Widener) walked with the bases loaded to go ahead 4-2.
Marist did start a comeback effort with a solo home run in the bottom of the seventh however in the ninth the Broncs put the final stamp on the day with four runs scoring, highlighted by Joe Tiroly (Yardley, PA/ Pennsbury) smashing his third home run of the season to give the Broncs the win 8-3
Quotes and Notes
"We grinded out two games. A well-pitched game today by BY (Young). Jake Dorety was superb in closing out the game. Offensively we've battled all weekend. Up and down the lineup we've competed." Rider Head Coach Dr Barry Davis
- PJ Craig (Barnegat, NJ/ Barnegat) got the win in game one moving to 3-2 on the year.
- Young got the win in game two going seven innings with seven strikeouts and allowing only four hits to earn his team-high fifth win of the year.
Broncs by the Numbers
- Rider had a season-high 19 hits in the first contest with eight of nine batters in the starting lineup recording a hit
- Rider had nine hits in game two with Shepherd, Skettini, Winsett, Tiroly, Costanzo, and Anthony Paskell (Solon, OH/Saint Ignatius) getting base knocks in the contest.
- Skettini had a career-high five RBIs in game one, and Shepherd also recorded a career-high four RBIs.
- Hartmann went 5-6 in game one with a career-high five hits and three RBIs.
- Skettini moved his hit streak to 14 games and on-base streak to 23.
- Luke Lesch (Gloucester, NJ/ Gloucester Catholic) has reached in all 30 games played this year.
Up Next
The Broncs continue action vs Marist on April 14th at 12:00 PM.
