May 18, 2006
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

College Baseball
LeMoyne College 6, Rider University 4

SYRACUSE, NY—The Broncs lost a Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference to Le Moyne at Alliance Bank Stadium Thursday. “We did everything but win,” said Rider head coach Barry Davis. “We played well, right with them.”

The second game of the doubleheader was rained out, and will be played in the first game of a doubleheader Friday at Dick Rockwell Field on the Le Moyne campus.

With Le Moyne’s seventh consecutive victory, the Dolphins (34-12, 19-5 MAAC) won the MAAC regular season title, and will be the top seed in the upcoming tournament. “Now we’ve seen Le Moyne,” Davis said. “Not sure what the next two games will show, but based on today we can play with the best in the tournament. It is all a matter of execution and clutch hitting.”

Rider (25-27, 17-8 MAAC) built a 1-0 lead in the second inning on a solo home run by freshman Jamie Hayes (Sunrise, FL/Piper).  Hayes had two of Rider’s 10 hits. The Broncs took a 4-1 lead in the sixth inning on a two-run single by senior Gene Crimoli (Shrewsbury/Christian Brothers Academy). “Hayes and Crimoli swung the bat pretty good today,” said Davis.

Rider took a 2-0 lead in the fifth inning when junior Scott Knazek (Browns Mills/Pemberton) doubled and scored on a ground out. Knazek and senior Tom Letizia (Fair Lawn) each had two hits for Rider. “We saw their best pitcher and handled him,” said Davis. “We put some hits on him.”

Le Moyne cut the lead to 2-1 in the fifth inning on a balk, and scored three runs in the sixth inning on three hits to tie the score at 4-4.  The first place Dolphins scored a run on two hits in the seventh and a run on two hits in the eighth inning for the final score. “We had bases loaded in the eighth inning with no outs and we had who we wanted up,” said Davis, “and we hit the ball hard twice right at people.”

Rider sophomore pitcher Will O’Connor (Cinnaminson) pitching five innings and left the game leading 4-3. “Will pitched fine for five innings,” said Davis. “In the sixth he let up a walk and a home run.”

Le Moyne leads the MAAC in earned run average, batting average and team fielding percentage. The Dolphins rank 14th nationally in ERA, 48th in batting average, 24th in home runs per game and 15th in win-loss percentage.

Rider will now be the second or third seed in the upcoming four-team MAAC Championship Tournament. Manhattan looks to be second or third, while Niagara and tournament host Marist are fighting for the final spot. The official pairings and game times will be announced Monday by the MAAC office.

“There shouldn’t be any pressure on us Friday,” said Davis. “If we had won today we’d be looking to sweep and win the regular season title. Now we’re locked into second or third place, and there isn’t much of a difference there. We’re probably going to play Manhattan either way.”

-RU-