2025 MAAC Baseball Championship
Rider Broncs (32-16, 22-6 MAAC) 
Location: Pomona, NY | Clover Stadium 
Live Video – ESPN+ | Thursday
Live Stats - Click Here
Twitter – RiderUBaseball
Tournament Homepage – MAACSports.com
Tickets – MAACSports.com

What You Need to Know
- The Rider baseball team begins its quest for its fifth MAAC Championship in program history on Thursday afternoon. 
- Rider won the regular season title for the first time in a decade, with a sweep over Fairfield.
- The Broncs last won the MAAC Championship in the 2023, defeating Fairfield in a winner-take-all Championship game, 18-4, to capture the title.
- Quinnipiac stands as the only team to win a conference series against Rider, taking two out of three games back in March.

About the Broncs 
- Five Broncs are batting over .300 on the year with Joe Tiroly, Kyle Neri, Erich Hartmann, Charley Magoulick, and Nick Shuhet all achieving the milestone.
- Tiroly leads the Broncs offensively, batting .396 with 72 hits, 62 runs, 69 RBIs and 17 home runs. The sophomore leads the MAAC in batting average, slugging percentage (.786), RBIs, and home runs. His 69 RBIs are a single-season program record.
- Kyle Neri is second on the team, batting .330 with 65 hits. His 42 RBIs and six home runs are both third on the squad.
- Brian Young leads Rider on the mound with a perfect 8-0 record along with a MAAC-best 2.64 ERA pitching 81.2 innings, allowing just 24 earned runs, and compiling 69 strikeouts with just 25 walks. Young's eight wins are tied with Fairfield's Ben Alekson for the MAAC lead.
- Rider is batting .290 as a team.
- Zach Silifes leads the MAAC with eight saves on the year.

Last Time Out  
- The Broncs are coming off two walk-off victories over Fairfield to clinch the regular season title. 
- After two days of weather delays, Rider finally closed out game one of their crucial series against Fairfield, earning a dramatic 2-1 walk-off win in 12 innings on Saturday afternoon.
- When play finally resumed Saturday morning, the teams remained deadlocked until the bottom of the 12th, when freshman Peter Crespo stepped in and crushed the first pitch he saw over the fence for a solo walk-off homer—sealing a gritty game one win and keeping Rider in the hunt for the MAAC regular season title and the tournament's top seed.
- In game two, the Stags and Broncs went back and forth before Rider found itself trailing 7-6 going into the final frame. Down to their last strike, it was fellow freshman Magoulick who delivered the decisive blow, blasting a three-run walk-off homer to lift Rider to a 9-7 win over Fairfield, clinching the program's first MAAC regular season title since 2015 and the top seed in the conference tournament. 

MAAC Postseason Honors
- Tiroly was named MAAC Player of the Year, becoming Rider's first honoree since Josh Loftin in 1999. The MAAC's only unanimous First Team selection, he notched his 100th career hit and RBI at Marist.
- Young capped his final regular season as MAAC Pitcher of the Year, the first Bronc to earn the honor since Kurt Sowa in 2013. He reached 200 career strikeouts at Canisius and recorded two complete-game shutouts. Young was also named to the All-MAAC First Team.
- Junior reliever Gavin Hawkes was named MAAC Relief Pitcher of the Year, the first Bronc to win the award since 2023. In 14 appearances, Hawkes posted a 1.88 ERA over 38.1 innings with 29 strikeouts. He recorded a career-high six strikeouts over six no-hit innings in a win over Manhattan and earned All-MAAC Second Team honors.
- In his first season at the helm, Lee Lipinski '16 was named MAAC Coach of the Year, the first Rider coach to claim the honor since 2015. Lipinski led the Broncs to a 22-6 MAAC record, a sweep of Fairfield, and the program's first regular season title in a decade. Rider enters the postseason 32-16, just four wins shy of the program record.
- Neri was named to the All-MAAC First Team in the outfield. He delivered a career performance during Rider's series at Saint Peter's, driving in eight and posting back-to-back four-hit games.
- Magoulick and Kyle Batt were named to the MAAC All-Rookie Team following impressive first-year campaigns.
- Magoulick hit .307 with 46 hits, five home runs, and 27 RBIs, including the walk-off three-run homer in the final game of the regular season against Fairfield that sealed the regular season title and tournament top seed.
- Batt was a key part of the starting rotation for the Broncs, tossing 46.0 innings with a 4-3 record, 4.70 ERA, 24 earned runs allowed, and 30 strikeouts.

Scouting the Tournament Field

No. 2 Fairfield
- Fairfield enters the MAAC Tournament as the No. 2 seed after an impressive regular season, finishing 36-17 overall and 21-8 in conference play.
- At the plate, Dean Ferrara has been the offensive standout for the Stags, hitting .379 with 92 hits, 52 RBIs, and seven home runs.
- On the mound, the pitching tandem of Ben Alekson and Bowen Baker has been dominant all season, combining for 127 strikeouts.
- The Broncs swept the Stags, with the teams only able to play two of the scheduled three games in the series, both walk-off wins for Rider.

No. 3 Sacred Heart 
- Sacred Heart secured its second-consecutive winning season, finishing third in the MAAC with a 17-15 conference record and a 27-24 overall mark in the Pioneers first season in the conference.
- Offensively, Alex Ungar has been the catalyst for the Pioneers, pacing the team with a .363 batting average. He leads the MAAC in both doubles (23) and stolen bases (31), while also tallying 65 hits, 11 home runs, 44 RBIs, and producing a .698 slugging percentage.
- On the mound, Joe Trombley has anchored the pitching staff, logging 78.2 innings with a 4.92 ERA. He's recorded 48 strikeouts and held opponents to a .281 batting average.
- Rider swept the three-game series during the regular season, scoring 27 runs across the three games. 

No. 4 Siena
- Siena finished the regular season 22-30 overall and 17-13 in MAAC play, earning its first MAAC Championship berth in four years.
- Alistair Morin headlines the Saints' pitching staff, becoming the program's first First Team All-MAAC selection in six years. The redshirt junior went 5-5 over 14 starts, ranking second in the MAAC with 73 strikeouts and helping Siena win its first eight conference series openers.
- At the plate, Aidan Paradine leads the way with a .377 average, 69 hits, 41 RBIs, and seven home runs, while Jake Sparks paces the team with 14 homers.
- The Broncs and Saints did not meet in the regular season this year.

No. 5 Quinnipiac
- Quinnipiac wrapped up the regular season at 26-24-1 overall and 17-13 in MAAC play.
- Sebastian Mueller headlines the Bobcats' offense, hitting .340 with 69 hits, 55 RBIs, and 14 home runs. Christian Smith adds to the power, leading the team with 62 RBIs.
- On the mound, Andrew Rubayo has logged 56.0 innings with 35 earned runs and 22 strikeouts, while Nick Balcom leads the staff with 50 strikeouts.
- The Bobcats were the lone team to win a conference series against the Broncs, taking the first two games in the series, before Rider came back to secure game three, 19-9.
- Quinnipiac earned its spot in the double-elimination field with a 10-5 win over eighth-seeded Niagara Tuesday.

No. 7 Marist
- Marist finished the regular season at 24-27 overall and 14-14 in MAAC play.
- Jason Claiborn paces the Red Foxes offense, hitting .328 on the season with a team-high 41 RBIs. Noel Rivera has hit a team-best four home runs on the year.
- On the mound, Will Taylor is 5-4 with a 3.36 ERA and a team-best 60 strikeouts in 77.2 innings.
- Rider swept Marist during the regular season, winning game one behind a complete-game, two-hit shutout from Young in game one, a one-run game in game two, then an extra-inning victory to wrap up the series in game three.
- The Red Foxes earned their spot in the double-elimination field with a 12-3 win over sixth-seeded Mount St. Mary's Tuesday.