March 24, 2007 - LeMoyne 6 Rider 4
March 24, 2007
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
College Baseball
LeMoyne College 6, Rider University 4
LAWRENCEVILLE—Despite four hits, including a pair of doubles, two runs scored and an RBI from the Hayes brothers, the Broncs lost a Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference game to LeMoyne Saturday. “It’s frustrating to battle back and take the lead and then not be able to get three outs when we need to,” said Rider head coach Barry Davis.
Rider (2-11, 0-1 MAAC) scored four runs in the eighth inning on four hits to take a 4-3 lead. Sophomore Jamie Hayes (Sunrise, Fla./Piper) led off with a double and scored on a double by his older brother, junior David Hayes (Sunrise, Fla). David Hayes scored on an RBI single by junior Jon Leise (Woodbury/West Deptford). “Comebacks are great when you win, but if you don’t win, you really didn’t come back,” Davis said.
The Hayes brothers accounted for four of Rider’s eight hits. “David had a big double for us,” Davis said. “The Hayes brothers got us going today. Jamie hit the double and David changed places with him. They’ve been consistent for us, steady. They’re both hitting and they both can run. I feel good when they are at the plate.”
Jamie Hayes was the MAAC Rookie of the Year last season, and has 88 hits in his first 66 Rider games. David Hayes was a pitcher for Florida Athletic University before a series of arm injuries ended his pitching career, so he transferred to Rider to become a hitter again. “I was a hitter in high school,” David said. “When I could no longer pitch Florida Atlantic wasn’t real interested in me as a hitter, so I came here.”
“He’s been a good acquisition,” Davis said. David Hayes has 15 hits in his first 13 games as a Bronc.
“I’m very glad I came here, but the cold weather stinks,” David Hayes said, “not just for baseball but in general. It’s gloomy and overcast. It makes you appreciate the nicer days more, the nicer weather out on the field more.”
In high school, David was a senior when they brought Jamie, a freshman, up to the varsity toward the end of the season. “We never really played together as teammates since we were little, and I like it, it’s cool,” David said. “My brother and I are pretty close, so it’s good to be able to do this.”
“When I was nine and David was 12 we played on a team together, that was the last time,” Jamie remembered. “When I was a freshman and was brought up to varsity, that was mainly to pinch run. I like us being teammates. He’s a good player. This has made us closer, playing together, and now we live together. We lived together our whole lives growing up, but now living together away from our parents is different.”
LeMoyne (3-13, 1-0 MAAC), the MAAC preseason favorite, scored an unearned run in the ninth inning on two hits and a Rider error to tie the score at 4-4 and scored twice in the top of the tenth inning on two hits and two more Rider errors. The Broncs committed five errors in the game.
LeMoyne scored a run in the first inning and took a 3-0 lead in the fifth inning.
Sophomore Mike Petrowski (Hamilton Square/Steinert) started for Rider and pitched eight innings, allowing two earned runs while striking out eight.
Red-shirt freshman Matt McCollum (Tabernacle/Shawnee) doubled for the Broncs.
Senior Brad States (Paoli, PA/Conestoga) and sophomore Mo Williams (Tinton Falls/Monmouth Regional) also had hits for Rider.
The Broncs play the second and third games of the series Sunday, beginning at 12 noon.
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