May 13, 2007     
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

College Baseball
Niagara University 10, Rider University 0

NIAGARA FALLS, NY—The Broncs committed six errors and managed just one hit in a Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference loss to Niagara at Sal Maglie Stadium Sunday afternoon. “It was just one of those days,” said Rider head coach Barry Davis. “It’s demoralizing.”

The loss drops Rider (19-26, 11-12 MAAC) to fifth place, with three conference games remaining, hosting eighth place Fairfield (9-14 MAAC) Thursday and Friday. The top four teams make the MAAC tournament May 24-26.

Rider freshman Nick Wojnowski (Baldwin, MD/Calvert Hall) broke up the no-hitter in the eighth inning with a leadoff single. “We hit a couple of balls hard, but right at them,” Davis said.

Niagara (14-29, 3-18 MAAC) scored eight runs in the first inning on five hits and five Rider errors. “They got a leadoff double and then we made some errors and it snowballed,” Davis said. “The ball game was essentially over in the first inning.”

Rider junior pitcher Will O’Connor (Cinnaminson) allowed just one earned run in four innings of work.

“Basically, we’re in better shape then we were when we came up here,” Davis said of winning the series two games to one.

Rider travels to Brooklyn, NY Tuesday to play LIU in the final non-conference game of the regular season. “We’ll look to do better at Long Island on Tuesday, and if we win two on Thursday against Fairfield we’ll have a chance to get into the playoffs with a win on Friday,” Davis said. “The only positive from this is that we won the series, and we’re in position to get into the tournament with another good series next week.”

-RU-