Rider’s road success continues in Iona, Villanova wins

By Benjamin Shinault

The Broncs have had plenty of success so far in the young season, ranked as the third best offense in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference, with a team batting average of .300 and being second in total runs with 213.

Rider’s road dominance continued this weekend as the Broncs took two of three in a road series against the Iona Gaels. 

With a dominant 11-1 road win against Villanova on April 1, the Broncs will be heading to play in the Liberty Bell Classic at Citizens Bank Park, the home of the Philadelphia Phillies.

‘I was flowing’

Coming off a strong 8-5 win in the Liberty Bell Classic tournament over Lehigh, the Broncs took to New York to take on the Iona Gaels to resume MAAC action.

Making his way to the mound on March 28 was senior pitcher Brian Young, who in his senior season, is having his best one yet. Young is sixth in ERA, seventh in innings pitched and sixth in strikeouts.

Young’s pitching mastery was on display in game one of the series, finishing with a line of seven and two thirds innings pitched, allowing just one earned run and five strikeouts. Young also threw a total of 122 pitches, a career-high.

“I was flowing pretty much. I knew I had a chance to go deep in the game after my first three innings,” Young continued, “we had a couple huge plays in the field … we got quick outs.”

The lone run that Young allowed came from an RBI single in the bottom of the second to give Iona the lead.

The very next inning, the Broncs knotted the score up at 1-1 thanks to a triple from sophomore outfielder Kyle Neri. After a bat around, Neri stepped back up to the plate once more and delivered another RBI to give Rider the lead, 2-1.

The slight 2-1 lead carried its way until the final pitch when graduate student Zach Silfies picked up the save and gave Rider the game one victory.

Only scoring one run in game one of the series, Rider was searching for more in game two but Iona’s pitching was on-par on allowing the Broncs three hits.

Iona got the scoring started in the ballgame with a fielder’s choice in the first inning and followed up with a homerun in the second inning to give them a 2-0 lead.

Pitching for the Broncs was freshman Kyle Batt, who surrendered eight hits, four earned runs and hit two Iona batters.

With the Gaels up 4-0 in the sixth inning, Rider finally hit the run column with a solo homerun from junior outfielder Erich Hartmann. 

Iona’s pitching silenced the Broncs for the remainder of the matchup, giving them a 4-1 win to split the series at one to make game three a rubber match. 

Junior pitcher Gavin Hawkes came in relief and rolled through the Gaels lineup and limited the offensive attack of Iona in game two.

The series finale looked a lot more like the usual 2025 Rider Broncs as the team put up 11 runs on the board en route to a 11-3 win. Rider has scored 10+ runs in eight games so far this season. 

Iona striked first against Rider pitcher junior Clayton Poliey with two runs in the bottom of the first to give the Gaels an early edge. 

Down 2-0 early, the Broncs pounced on the Gaels in the next inning, totaling six runs. The Broncs scoring got started with a sacrifice fly from junior infielder AJ Labrusciano to put the Broncs on the board. Right after, junior infielder Will Gallagher tied the game with a single.

The Broncs did not stop as Neri took the lead with a single up the middle to make it 3-2. Rider added three more runs thanks to RBI doubles from sophomore shortstop Matt Leahy and sophomore infielder Joe Tiroly to make the score 6-2.

The battle-scarred Gaels scraped up a run in their half of the second with a sacrifice fly to make it 6-3.

The Broncs were not done pouring it on. In the fourth inning, sophomore catcher Nick Shuhet picked up an RBI single.

With the score now 10-3, Neri put the cherry on top with a double in center field which scored a run to make it 11-3.

“Just being to play more often I think because the big part of that is seeing more live pitching and staying in that groove,” Neri said of his early season success.

Going back to the Bank

There was not any fooling around on April 1 this year as the Broncs were all business against Villanova, winning 11-1. 

In the first inning of the game, Rider got right to it with three runs coming off an RBI single from Hartmann and a two-run homerun from Shuhet.

Up 3-0 early, there was plenty of insurance for starting pitcher Chris Montone. As he dealt on the mound, Montone accumulated six innings, allowing just three hits and struck out five.

Later on, the Broncs were able to get out to a larger lead, scoring four more runs to extend it to 7-0 .

Rider was not done adding to their lead as in the fifth inning the Broncs tacked on three more to get out to a 11-0 lead. 

The Wildcats got on the board with a single to center field to make it 11-1.

With the win, the Broncs will now advance to the final.

The Broncs will now take on the Mount Saint Mary’s Mountaineers. Game one is April 4 at 3 p.m.