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Box Score 2 JERSEY CITY, NJ – The Rider baseball team kicked off MAAC play in dominant fashion, defeating Saint Peter's 25-17 on Friday afternoon. The game was paused after seven innings due to darkness but resumed on Saturday before the second matchup of the series. The Broncs secured a 16-8 victory in Game Two, clinching the series win.
Game One
Rider struck first in the fourth inning when
Kyle Neri drove in two runs to give the Broncs a 2-0 lead. Moments later,
Peter Crespo continued his impressive freshman season, blasting his third home run of the year and his first career grand slam to extend Rider's advantage to 8-0.
Neri delivered again later in the inning with a two-run homer, his third of the 2025 season, pushing the lead to 10-0. The Broncs tacked on two more runs to make it 12-0 before Saint Peter's got on the board in the bottom of the fourth.
Rider responded with six additional runs across the fifth and sixth innings.
Joe Tiroly capped off the Broncs' offensive explosion with his fourth home run of the season, a three-run shot that stretched the lead to 23-2 after seven innings.
The game resumed on Saturday afternoon, with Saint Peter's making a late push by scoring 13 runs in the bottom of the eighth. However, the Broncs' commanding lead proved too much to overcome as they secured the 25-17 victory in Game One.
Game Two
The Broncs struck first with an
Erich Hartmann RBI double, bringing in two runs to take an early 2-0 lead in the top of the first.
Saint Peter's quickly responded, scoring twice in the bottom of the inning to even the game at 2-2.
Rider regained the lead with a run in the top of the second, then extended their advantage in the third as
Griffin Puvel delivered a two-RBI single, making it 5-2. Two more runs later in the inning pushed the Broncs' lead to 7-2.
Joe Tiroly added to the offensive surge, launching a solo shot over the center-field wall for his fifth home run of the season, giving Rider an 8-2 cushion.
The Broncs continued to build on their lead, with
Nick Shuhet driving in a run on an RBI double in the sixth to make it 10-3.
Tiroly delivered again in the seventh, crushing his second home run of the game, a three-run blast, to extend the lead to 13-3.
Rider capped off the victory with three more runs in the ninth, securing the win and clinching the series in Jersey City.
Quotes and Notes
"We had another strong performance out of our starters.
Brian Young was in the strike zone and gave us a chance from the first pitch. Brian has been great so far this year. Our offense is in a groove, and we're putting up enough runs to win another big day out of
Joe Tiroly. He has been driving in runs, but that is because we have guys doing their jobs and getting on base. Again, we are going to Sunday with an opportunity to sweep, and we hope to get the job done."
– Rider Interim Head Coach Lee Lipinski after Game Two
Up Next
The Broncs return to action on Mar. 9 to wrap up the weekend series with Saint Peter's.
First pitch is set for 1 p.m.
