Broncs split high-scoring affair at Western Carolina; win home opener against Saint Joseph’s

By Benjamin Shinault

Over the weekend, Rider baseball and Western Carolina University enjoyed a run barrage, scoring 103 runs over the four-game series split between the two teams. Following the series split, the Broncs traveled home to play in their home opener defeating Saint Joseph’s 7-3 on March 4.

The brutal 27

Game one of the series for the Broncs was full of misery and despair on Feb. 28. Junior lefty pitcher, PJ Craig, toed the mound down in North Carolina but experienced immediate troubles. Craig, by the end of his two innings of work, allowed five hits, five walks, six earned runs and threw 63 pitches. By the end of Craig’s appearance, the Broncs found themselves in an early 6-0 hole.

Coming in for Craig in an effort to slow down the Catamounts surge, was sophomore pitcher Jack Ruditzsky. In his second appearance of the season, he fell victim to the Western Carolina offense as well, only recording two outs and letting up five hits, nine unearned runs and walking three, by the end of Ruditzsky’s outing, the Broncs were down 16-0 in the third inning.

Rider recorded a run until the fourth inning when sophomore catcher Nick Shuhet doubled to left field to close the gap to 17-1.

The fifth inning brought seven more runs for Western Carolina to increase their lead to 24-1 and by the end of the sixth, they would add three more to end their attack on the Broncs at 27 runs. The Broncs ended the game on a good note, adding four runs to their scoring column thanks to sophomore outfielder who hit a grand slam, making the final score 27-5.

Saturday doubleheader

For game two and three of the series, came in the form of a double header on March 1, in which the two teams split. 

Game one was started by senior pitcher Brian Young. Young had his way with the Western Carolina through his first two innings of work, only allowing two runs but ran into trouble in the bottom of the fourth when he gave up a solo home run and an RBI single and double. 

Rider offense, in game two, had better luck at the plate, scoring six runs through the first four innings. A bulk of the runs came in the third inning when sophomore outfielder Kyle Neri, hit a three-run shot to give Rider a 4-1 edge.

With Rider up 6-5 to begin the fifth inning, the Broncs poured it on, scoring five additional runs to go up 11-5. In the next inning, Rider added some more insurance to go up 14-5. In the bottom half of the same inning, Western Carolina stormed all the way back to take the lead after putting 10 runs up on the board.

With the Broncs now down 16-15, they tied the game back up the following inning thanks to a Neri home run, his second of the ballgame. 

Now 16-16, entering the final inning, the Broncs still had fight in them as they snatched the lead back off a junior Erich Hartmann single to left field. With the lead only at one run, Head Coach Lee Lipinski sent out sophomore pitcher Jake Dorety who closed the door on the potential comeback with two strikeouts and a pick off in the bottom of the eighth to give Rider the narrow, late-comeback, 16-15 win.

A few hours later, after the dust had settled from game two and game one of the doubleheader, the Catamounts pounced on the Broncs immediately. By the end of the third inning, Rider was already down 9-0. 

The Broncs only amounted two runs, the first coming in the fourth inning off a freshman first baseman Charley Magoulick RBI single up the middle of the diamond to make the score 9-1 and in the final inning of the doubleheader, freshman shortstop Peter Crespo, hit his first collegiate home run over the right field fence to make the final score 18-2.

Finishing on top

Coming off three games where the Broncs surrendered 60 runs to Western Carolina University, Rider was searching for the series split and got just that with a 12-8, game four victory.

The finale started out rough for the Broncs as the Catamounts hit two homeruns in the first two innings to take an early 3-0 lead.

With the Broncs down, they were able to take the two early hits and hit back harder, scoring nine unanswered runs, to go up 9-3.

Junior pitcher Clayton Poliey had an efficient start for the Broncs in the finale, totaling five and one third innings pitched, the most innings pitched by a Rider pitcher the whole weekend, allowed just four hits and struck out six.

Rider, up 9-3, saw Western Carolina close the gap to 9-6 in the bottom of the seventh inning. In the eighth inning, the Broncs added some separation in the form of a sophomore infielder Joe Tiroly home run to left center field as well as a sophomore outfielder Griffin Puvel single to left field that scored two.

The added run support was enough to give Rider the 12-8 victory to split the high-scoring series.

No hitter through five 

After spending the weekend down south, Rider baseball headed up north to open up play on Sonny Pittaro field in a matchup between the Saint Joseph’s Hawks.

Toeing the mound in his first start was freshman pitcher Kyle Batt. Batt, in his first collegiate start in the Broncs home opener, had a no-hitter through five innings and struck out five.

“He was throwing hard, beating guys, his off-speed was sharp and he was able to battle back when he fell behind and that was key for him [Batt],” Lipinski said.

Batt, in his previous appearance coming out of the bullpen, against Western Carolina, had struggles with command as he walked five but based on his performance against the Hawks, it seems as if he left those struggles in North Carolina.

“It was awesome, first college start, lot of fun, threw the ball well and I thought I competed well, it was awesome,” Batt said.

Pitching for the Broncs was the star of the show as the Broncs allowed only four hits and walked just three.

Some other stars of the show were Puvel who put one over the fence to add to Rider’s early 4-0 edge. Crespo put one over the fence as well, giving him home runs in back-to-back games and giving the Broncs a 5-0 lead.

The Hawks were able to get on the board due to a single up the left side in the eighth inning and a two-run homerun in the top of the ninth, but it wasn’t enough as Rider defended Sonny Pittaro field in their home opener.

“As an alumni, I take a lot of pride in playing at this place and it’s something we talk about, ‘protect the pitt’,” Lipinski said.

Rider will head back on the road on March 7 for the beginning of a three-game series against Saint Peter’s for the kickstart of Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference play. First pitch will be at 3 p.m.