May 25, 2006 - #2 Manhattan 5 #3 Rider 0
May 25, 2006
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
College Baseball - MAAC Tournament
Manhattan College 5, Rider University 0
FISHKILL, NY—The third seeded Broncs lost to the second seeded Jaspers in the first round of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Championship Tournament, held at Dutchess County Stadium and hosted by Marist College. Rider (25-30) will now play the fourth seed, Niagara (27-25), in the consolation game Friday morning at 11:00 am. “I’m sure Niagara is down right now too, so someone is going to have to step up tomorrow morning or go home,” said Rider head coach Barry Davis, the MAAC co-Coach of the Year.
Manhattan (30-12) leftfielder Eric Nieto led off the bottom of the first inning with a triple and scored on a double by Nick Derba to give the Jaspers a run before making an out. Then Rider killer John Fitzpatrick hit a two-run home run in the first inning to give the Jaspers a 3-0 lead. It was the fifth home run by Fitzpatrick in four games against the Broncs this year, and his 16th of the season. Fitzpatrick also doubled and scored in the two-run sixth inning. “On the home run we tired to pitch him inside, we just didn’t get the pitch inside enough,” Davis said.
Rider sophomore pitcher Will O’Connor (Cinnaminson), a member of the MAAC All-Academic team, settled down after allowing the first inning home run to retire nine straight Jaspers and 14 of the next 15. O’Connor struck out a season-high seven without allowing a walk in six and two-third innings of work, allowing eight hits, while falling to 7-2 on the season. “The atmosphere here was great,” said O’Connor. “I loved every minute of pitching tonight. After the first inning I was able to work my fastball inside, setting up my change.”
The shutout was the first for Rider this year and the first thrown at the Broncs since Manhattan no-hit Rider last season. Senior Tom Letizia (Fair Lawn), senior Gene Crimoli (Shrewsbury/Chirstian Brothers Academy), freshman Mo Williams (Tinton Falls/Monmouth Regional) and junior Jeff Reynolds (Denville/Parsippany Hills) collected hits for Rider off of winning pitcher Jesse Darcy, who improved to 5-2 on the season. “Give Darcy credit,” said Davis. “He was clutch today. He was the difference.” Letizia collected Rider’s first hit with one out in the fourth inning.
During the regular season, Rider scored 69 runs in the seven games O’Connor won. “All year the offense was there for me,” said O’Connor. “Tonight I wish I could have been there more for them. We hit the ball hard all night, we just couldn’t get enough of them to fall.”
Rider had runners on first and second with one out in both the fourth and fifth innings but came up empty. “We had a few opportunities,” said Davis. In the fourth, Manhattan turned a 4-6-3 double play to end the rally. “The double play has been our Achilles heel all season,’ said Davis. In the fifth, an error, a single by Williams, and a wild pitch gave Rider runners at second and third, before a strike out and a ground out ended the inning.
Bronc junior reliever Erik Holck (Readington/Hunterdon Central) struck out two without allowing a hit in one and one-third innings of work.
Manhattan broke open a 3-0 lead with two runs in the sixth on a two-run single by Dom Lombardi.
Rider senior Bryan Wagner (Flemington/North Hunterdon) led off the game with a walk and stole second, but after sliding safely into second base was the victim of the hidden ball trick when he stepped off of the base to dust himself off.
In the tournament’s first game, the top seed, Le Moyne (37-12) defeated the fourth seed, Niagara, 7-2.
“(Junior Justin) Roszkowski (Clark/Arthur L. Johnson) will throw tomorrow,” said Davis, “and I like that match-up. He beat them earlier this year.”
-RU-
