College Baseball: Marist 7, Rider 6
Monday, April 20, 2015
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College Baseball
Marist College 7, Rider University 6
POUGHKEEPSIE, NY—The Broncs lost a Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference series for the first time this season, falling to Marist on Sunday and losing the series two games to one. “Today’s game was a good game,” said Rider head coach Barry Davis. “We just didn’t close the door when we needed to.”
Marist (11-18-1, 6-6 MAAC) scored three runs in the seventh inning, all with two outs, on a single, two walks and a three-run double to take a 7-6 lead. “Marist battled and kept plugging away,” Davis said. “They scored three with two outs.”
Rider (15-17, 6-3 MAAC) scored two runs in the seventh inning on a pair of hits, including an RBI single by sophomore Lee Lipinski (Glen Arm, MD/Calvert) and a Marist error to take a 6-4 lead.
Marist scored four runs in the sixth inning on four hits and two Rider errors to tie the score at 4-4. “The errors certainly didn’t help us,” Davis said.
Rider freshman starter Nick Margevicius (North Royalton, Ohio/St. Ignatius) pitched five and two-thirds innings in the no-decision, allowing two earned runs. “Nick was good,” Davis said. “When we had the three-run inning he sat for a while. When he came back he wasn’t as sharp.”
Rider scored three runs in the fifth inning on three hits, including a double by senior Mike Parsons (Liverpool, NY) and an RBI single by junior Jordan Leinweber (Castle Rock, CO/Douglas County) to take a 4-0 lead. Leinweber had two hits on the day. “Jordan had a pretty good day against a lefty,” Davis said of his left-handed hitting centerfielder. “He’s getting more comfortable with left-handers. That’s a good sign for us.”
It was the second consecutive game that Rider had a 4-0 lead and lost. “When it was 4-0 I was thinking about that and felt we needed to get to 5-0,” Davis said, “but we never did.”
In the third inning junior James Locklear (Hamilton, NJ/Steinert) knocked in a run on a fielder’s choice to give Rider a 1-0 lead.
Senior Nick Richter (Fox River Grove, Ill./Cary-Grove) had two of Rider’s eight hits. Richter has 10 hits in the last seven games. Locklear had two R
via www.gobroncs.com
Senior Nick Richter (Fox River Grove, Ill./Cary-Grove) had two of Rider’s eight hits. Richter has 10 hits in the last seven games. Locklear had two RBI on the day.
The Broncs took two of three games from Marist last year at Rider.
Marist is Rider’s oldest conference foe, dating back to 1993 in the NEC. Rider won NEC Titles in 1994, ’95 and ’96, and Marist won the NEC in ’97. In the MAAC, Marist beat Rider in the 2001 and 2002 Title Games.
The two teams have now met 76 times, with Rider winning 35.
Rider has won two of the first three MAAC series. “I feel good about being 6-3 in the league,” Davis said, “with six of those games on the road. That’s not a bad start.”
Rider is home Tuesday, hosting Lehigh at 3:30. “We have Lehigh at home, at Princeton then a home series next weekend (Iona) so we don’t have to do much traveling this week,” Davis said. “Maybe we can settle in and get into a routine.”