April 25, 2006
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

College Baseball
Monmouth University 10, Rider University 3

WEST LONG BRANCH—A small bump in the road.  With Wednesday’s game against La Salle cancelled due to a schedule conflict with the Explorers, Rider was looking for a tune up against a tough opponent, in between weekend conference series.

Instead the Broncs got tuned up.  Monmouth (24-11) overcame an early 3-0 deficit, scoring 10 unanswered runs to defeat Rider (17-23), 10-3 in a non-conference game Tuesday.

For the Broncs, freshmen James Hayes (Sunrise, Fla./Piper) and Adam Tussey (Brooklawn, N.J./Gloucester) each had two hits on the day.

The Broncs jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first inning on a wild pitch and a two-run single from Tussey.

“We jumped out on them early and took advantage of things but the game got away from us in the fifth inning,” said head coach Barry Davis.

“We played some of the other guys and executed early to get the 3-0 lead but I thought we should have been more competitive, even with the younger guys in there.  They [Monmouth] got on a role and scored 10 runs over three innings.  We never put anything together offensively after the first inning with only four hits the rest of the game.  We made two errors and had a double play ball that would have kept it at a 7-3 game in the seventh.  If we would have kept it at a four-run game, anything can happen.”

Down 3-0 in the decisive fifth, Monmouth scored six times on four hits to take a 6-3 lead, before adding a single run in the sixth and three runs in the seventh for the final score.

“The young guys [Hayes, Scott Olson (Vineland, N.J./St. Augustine Prep) and Tussey] have been able to hold their own and have been consistent,” Davis added.  “We wanted to get everyone some swings and get them some pitches and get them to throw.  Monmouth just out-played us.  It makes you realize that you still have to play.  Niagara, who we just beat in three straight games, is just as good as Monmouth and we just need to regroup and get back after it.  We didn’t do the things (pitching and defense) to deserve to win and we didn’t win.  Every game has to be played like it is a conference game and we want to get to the .500 mark overall and we now have some work to do to achieve that goal,” said Davis who is in his second season at Rider.

The loss snaps Rider’s three-game winning streak.

“I would like us to play more consistently, not a few good games, followed by a bad one.  They [Monmouth] doubled us on hits (14-7) and we doubled them on errors (2-1).  And Monmouth is too good to make any mistakes against them.  Overall it just wasn’t our day and they seem to have our number this year, beating us four times.  But I wanted us to play better, and we did for four and one-half innings.  It’s the fact that it was a nine inning game that got us into some trouble,” Davis added.

The Broncs at 11-4 and in first place in the MAAC host Saint Peter’s (3-11 in the MAAC) in a three-game conference series this weekend, with a doubleheader at noon on Saturday, followed by a single game on Sunday at Sonny Pittaro Field.

-RU-