Rider baseball
By: Jim Green
While Rider University baseball coach Barry Davis isn’t thrilled with his squad’s 3-3 start in MAAC league games, he isn’t particularly surprised by it, either. The Broncs opened their first conference road series of the year with an 8-2 win over Marist on Sunday behind senior righty Joe Moronese’s third straight fine outing. But Rider dropped both ends of a doubleheader Monday to fall to .500 in the MAAC and 5-15 overall.
"We’re sort of mid-pack," Davis said. "We’re probably where we should be as far as the league goes. I don’t think we’re as good as Marist."
The doubleheader was originally scheduled to be played Saturday, but was pushed back because of rain. In the first game Monday, Marist starter Chris Tracz shut the Rider offense down, going all seven innings and allowing only three hits and no walks while striking out five in a 7-0 win.
In the second game, Rider received a fine start from freshman lefty Derek Caldwell, who allowed two runs one earned on seven hits over six innings of work. With Rider trailing 2-1 in the seventh, Davis went to his bullpen, and sophomores Erik Holck and Justin Roszkowski combined to give up seven runs over the last two innings, turning what was a relatively close game into a 9-1 win for Marist.
"The score of the last game wasn’t indicative of how close it was," Davis said. "I went to our bullpen, and we just didn’t do the job. I thought Derek Caldwell did a great job until then. He started to get tired a little bit, and he lost velocity. We had two fresh arms in the bullpen.
"We have to play a complete game. We just didn’t do it."
On Sunday, Rider got the series off to a good start with an 8-2 win, as Moronese allowed two runs on six hits with five strikeouts, completing the eight-inning, rain-shortened game. It was the third straight win for Moronese, who improved to 3-1 on the season. Sophomore Jeff Reynolds was 3-for-4 with two runs and an RBI, junior shortstop Bryan Wagner was 1-for-2 with two runs and an RBI, and senior third baseman Jon Rehm singled and knocked in three runs.
"We outplayed them Game 1, they outplayed us Game 2, and Game 3 was nip-and-tuck, then we sort of came apart at the seams in the eighth," Davis said.
Despite losing two of the three games, Davis can take solace in the fact that Moronese who defeated Iona in his first league start on March 25 is emerging as a reliable ace for his squad.
"He’s been pretty solid the last two games," Davis said. "He’s given us a chance to win both times out. We’ve had some good hitting. We felt good about ourselves after the win. We haven’t been real consistent, and that showed."
The Broncs, who were scheduled to play at Seton Hall on Wednesday, are back on the road this weekend for a league series at Siena.
"We have to bounce back, that’s for sure," Davis said. "The last inning (against Marist) kind of leaves a sour taste in your mouth, because that’s the last inning you played, but you’re still 3-3. Hopefully, we can come out on the positive end and try to get things going in a positive direction. We need to play much better in the field and pitch better, and our bullpen’s got to do better."

