Broncs swing their way to MAAC Championship title

By Samantha Clark

After defeating the Merrimack College Warriors, 8-2, in their first game of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Championships, No. 1-seeded Rider baseball advanced to face the No. 3-seeded Fairfield University Stags. 

Through a rain-riddled double header, the Broncs emerged victorious in the winner-takes-all finale, capturing their fifth MAAC title, clinching a spot in the upcoming NCAA tournament and becoming the first Rider baseball team to win both regular season and conference tournament titles. 

History repeats itself

The Broncs headed into the competition seeking redemption after falling to the Stags in both championship games in 2025. 

“I believe the history is what made everyone so locked in,” junior outfielder Kyle Neri said. “We knew what just slipped between our fingers… and we were not going to let it happen again.”

Prior to those losses, Rider had won two out of three games against Fairfield in the 2023 tournament. In Wappingers Falls, New York, the Broncs looked to return to those winning ways, and they did just that. 

The May 22 matchup opened slowly until the bottom of the second inning, when sophomore infielder Eliot Medlock drove a single down left field to score senior outfielder Anthony Paskell, setting the Broncs on a roll.

In the bottom of the third, an RBI from senior outfielder Erich Hartmann brought home junior shortstop Matt Leahy, and after a home run from Neri, Rider was up 3-1.

The Broncs repeated this performance in the fourth inning, when sophomore infielder Peter Crespo launched another home run, bringing both himself and sophomore first baseman Charley Magoulick across the plate.

After the Stags drove in a run in the fifth, the remainder of the game was left scoreless with the Broncs securing a 5-1 win and providing them the advantage in the tournament.

“It was electric. Even before first pitch, everyone was locked in,” Magoulick said.

With Rider defeating Fairfield, the Stags fell to the loser’s bracket side, who now needed a win later that day to rematch with the Broncs. A 9-2 victory over the Niagara University Purple Eagles ensured that rematch. 

On a day where rain never subsided, the Stags came out hot in the first game of the championship final on May 23, putting up two quick runs in the opening inning. However, the Broncs responded later in the third with a Magoulick single, which drove in senior infielder Will Gallagher. 

Continuing with this momentum, Rider brought home three more in the same inning after Paskell, Magoulick and junior catcher Nick Shuhet crossed home plate. Later in the fourth, Paskell’s RBI triple brought in Neri, putting the Broncs up 5-2. 

After a Fairfield run, Neri answered with one of his own, but after the Stags brought in nine more in the top of the eighth inning, the Broncs could not get ahead. Neri closed out the matchup with a home run to set the Broncs back 12-7, with Fairfield picking up the win and sending the series to a winner-takes-all finale.

“Nobody was ever really down. Fairfield got away with one inning, and besides that, we were dominating,” Neri said. “When it came time for the second game, we just stayed on the gas pedal and outplayed them for nine innings behind PJ [Craig]’s outing.”

‘We left it all out there’

Stayed on the gas pedal they did, as the final game on May 23 delivered the redemption the Broncs had been chasing. As Neri noted, senior pitcher PJ Craig delivered an outstanding performance on the mound for the cranberry and white. 

Craig conceded zero hits through the first three innings, allowing the Broncs to find success at the plate and take the early lead. 

“We’ve been here before [during] our freshman year against Fairfield,” Craig said. “I was just trying to give my guys a chance to win the game.”

At the top of the second, a single from Leahy brought Medlock home, and hits from Gallagher and Hartmann followed, putting the Broncs up 3-0 on the scoreboard. Rider reignited this energy in the fifth, with runs from Paskell and Shuhet. 

Paskell crossed the plate again in the seventh after a single from Shuhet, placing the Broncs at a 6-0 advantage with just two innings remaining.

In an all-hands-on-deck effort from the Broncs pitching staff, Craig’s day came to a close after seven shutout-innings and just two hits allowed. Acting Head Coach Barry Davis then turned to the May 22 starter, sophomore pitcher Kyle Batt, who entered the game on no-day’s rest.

Batt worked for four outs until handing it over to the standout lefty reliever, senior pitcher Christian Aiello, who also played on no rest after relieving Batt on May 22. 

In the bottom of the ninth inning, the Stags’ first and only run closed out the matchup at 6-1, handing the championship title to the Broncs for the fifth time in program history and marked the first time the program captured both the regular season and conference championship titles in the same year.

“We knew this could’ve been our last game and we left it all out there,” Craig said. “It’s just surreal.”

Craig was credited with the MVP for his 16 innings of work throughout the conference tournament, and Hartmann, Neri, Crespo and Aiello also earned 2026 MAAC Baseball All-Championship team honors.

With the conference win, the Broncs earned the automatic bid and punched their ticket into the NCAA tournament, where they will soon face the best of Division I baseball. 

“This group has been together through so much, and it feels amazing that we are finally getting the opportunity to play in the regionals,” Neri said.