March 15, 2006 - Rider 13 Mercer 11
March 15, 2006
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
College Baseball
Rider University 13, Mercer University 11
MACON, GEORGIA—Not exactly Christmas in March but the Broncs will take it. Rider took advantage of seven Mercer errors and a timely home run to defeat the Bears Wednesday night in Georgia.
Senior Gene Crimoli (Shrewsbury, N.J./Christian Brothers Academy) hit a two-run home run, his first of the season and ninth of his career, to break an 11-11 tie in the eighth inning as Rider posted a wild first win of the season, 13-11 over the Bears.
Crimoli, who pinch ran earlier in the game, lined a shot over the right field fence with no outs, scoring freshman James Hayes (Sunrise, Fla./Piper) who had reached on an error.
After leading by five runs and being down by four runs in the same game, the feeling was that an ugly win is better than a pretty loss.
“We are just excited to be on the positive side,” said head coach Barry Davis who is in his second season at Rider. “We’ve been able to score a lot of runs but we haven’t been able to stop anyone and tonight we were able to take advantage of some errors by our opponent.”
Freshman Mike Petrowski (Hamilton Square, N.J./Steinert) pitched the final three and one-third innings, allowing two hits and no runs to pick up his first win of the year.
“Petrowski hasn’t given up an earned run all season,” added Davis. “He [Petrowski] lets them put the ball in play and he changes it up and the ball isn’t hit as hard so that has made him pretty effective early on. Instead of going with a typical closer situation tonight, I decided to stay with the hot hand and he was able to get the win for us.”
Giving up double-digits for the fifth game in a row has coach Davis a little concerned. “It’s been more of us playing poorly on defense more so than poor pitching,” said Davis. "Even some plays that have been ruled hits, our players know they should have been caught or the play should have been made and that has led to some high pitch counts, which can lead to the pitching staff getting hit a little but we have also been facing some pretty good clubs down here so yes, I’m concerned but I see some positives overall.”
Down 11-7 in the seventh inning, Rider (1-11) tied the game on three Bear errors and RBI’s from seniors Bryan Wagner (Flemington, N.J./North Hunterdon) and Tom Letizia (Fair Lawn, N.J./Fair Lawn).
The Broncs jumped out to a five run first inning lead. Wagner led off the game with a single and scored on an RBI single by junior Scott Knazek (Browns Mills, N.J./Pemberton). Knazek had two hits in the game with Wagner scoring twice. After two walks to load the bases, freshman Maurice Williams (Tinton Falls, N.J./Monmouth Regional) reached on a dropped fly ball by the right fielder, clearing the bases as Rider took a 4-0 lead. An RBI single by junior Jeff Reynolds (Denville, N.J./Parsippany Hills) scored Williams to give the Broncs a 5-0 lead. Reynolds had three hits in the game.
The Bears (14-9) used back to back two-out hits in the first inning to score three times, cutting the Rider lead to 5-3. A two-run home run tied the game at five after two innings.
Down 8-5, the Broncs battled back with a run in the fifth inning on a double by senior Mike Poalise (Hammonton, N.J./Hammonton) who eventually scored on a Bear error. Rider cut the lead to 8-7 in the sixth inning on a sacrifice fly by Poalise, scoring Letizia who singled earlier in the inning. Poalise and Letizia each had three hits in the game. Mercer came back with three in the bottom of the sixth off of two Rider errors to take an 11-7 lead.
“We’ve been pressing a little after dropping the first eleven games,” added Davis. “Facing some tough teams, tonight’s win will give us some confidence and we can play a little more relaxed on Friday night at Jacksonville State. Mercer is a really tough team and they’ve beaten Florida and Clemson so this is a good win for us. Any win is a good win for us at this point.”
Freshman Jim Kennedy (Levittown, Pa./Holy Ghost Prep) started, going five and two-thirds innings, recording one strikeout.
“It’s hard playing the first 16 games on the road but we are doing what most Northeast teams need to do. We are playing the best schedule we can play and that will set us up for conference play in two weeks,” said Davis.
Rider travels to Jacksonville State for a three game series with a single game Friday night and a doubleheader Saturday afternoon.
-RU-
