ORONO, ME- The Rider University baseball opened up their series vs Maine with a huge 13-4 win on Friday afternoon. With the win, Rider moves to 17-16 on the season and it drops Maine to 8-24.
The Broncs were led by a massive third inning where Rider brought across six runs in the inning, taking the lead and answering a second-inning grand slam from the Black Bears. Rider's top of the third started with an RBI double from Brian Skettini (Midland Park, NJ/Ridgewood), getting his team-leading 30th RBI on the campaign. A moment later, the Broncs again drove in a runner on an extra-base hit as Joe Tiroly (Yardley, PA/Pennsbury) followed Skettini's lead to make it a two-run ball game. Justin Costanzo (East Greenwich, N.J./Gloucester Catholic|Widener) quickly erased that lead with a two-run base hit, scoring Tiroly and Luke Lesch (Gloucester, NJ/ Gloucester Catholic) tying the game at four. Following the base hit, Kyle Neri (Williamstown, N.J./St. Augustine Prep|Bryant) was driven in on a sacrifice bunt, and the inning was capped off by Richie Sica (Wyckoff, NJ/Ramapo) hitting Rider's third double of the inning, scoring Costanzo to make it 6-4.
Following a rough bottom of the second, Rider starter PJ Craig (Barnegat, NJ/Barnegat) was stellar starting off his bounce back by striking out the side in the bottom of the third. Craig added four more strikeouts before ending his day after five innings allowing three earned runs on only three hits and a career-best nine strikeouts.
The Broncs' bats came back up big in the sixth, where they drove in multiple runs in an inning for the second time on the day, scoring four in the frame. Tiroly kicked off the inning with a walk and eventually came across to score the first of the three runs on a wild pitch. Costanzo extended the Rider lead to four following the wild pitch with an RBI double scoring Anthony Paskell (Solon, OH/Saint Ignatius). The inning's scoring was rounded out by an error from the Black Bears' shortstop, allowing two more Rider runs to score putting the Broncs into double digits on the day and extending the lead to 10-4.
In the eighth, the biggest of the Broncs' five extra-base hits came as Tiroly launched a ball to right center clearing the pair of Broncs on the bases for the fourth home run of his freshman season. The homer cemented a game-one win for Rider 13-4 in Orono.
Quotes and Notes
-"A solid win for us today. We pitched well today and hit when we needed to. Our goal is to continue to improve each day. We are getting closer to where we want to be.Our pitching, total defense, situational hitting, and base running all need to improve, and we'll get there. Tomorrow we get a chance to improve." Rider Head Coach Dr. Barry Davis
- Craig got the win going five innings allowing three earned runs on three hits with a career-best nine strikeouts.
- Christian Coombes (Ontario, Canada/Parkside Collegiate Institute|Saint Peters) went three innings allowing one hit with three strikeouts.
Broncs by the Numbers
- Rider had 13 hits with Jack Winsett (Voorhees, NJ/Eastern), Skettini, Lesch, Tiroly, Neri, Costanzo, and Sica all getting a hit on the day.
- All nine batters reach at least one time on the day.
- Lesch finished 1-for-2 with four walks on the afternoon.
- Winsett picked up his 151st career hit in the win.
- Paskell moves his on-base streak to 14.
- Lesch has reached in all 33 games played this year.
- Rider walked 13 times on the day.
Up Next
The Broncs continue their nonconference series at Maine tomorrow Saturday, April 19th at 1 PM.
