Rider's Final Home Stand Begins Tuesday
Final 5 Before MAAC Tournament
The Rider baseball team will close out the regular season with five home games this week, hosting Temple on Tuesday and Longwood for a four-game series Friday and Saturday.
Senior Day will take place Saturday at 12 noon prior to the first game of the doubleheader.
Rider (20-29, 13-11 MAAC) clinched a playoff berth in the four-team 2012 Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Championship Tournament, May 23-27 at Joe Bruno Stadium in Troy, NY, hosted by Siena.
Making the MAAC playoffs is no longer an issue. The real question now is: Will Rider finally get to play a mid-week baseball game? Only Mother Nature knows for sure.
Due to rain outs and scheduling, the Broncs have not played a mid-week baseball game since April 25 when the Broncs defeated cross-town rival Princeton 10-9 after defeating Saint Joseph's 7-5 on April 24.
Those non-conference wins began a string of eight victories in the last 11 games, including six MAAC wins in the last nine conference games.
Rider ended up winning six of the eight MAAC series to qualify for the conference championship for the fifth consecutive year and 10th time in the 15 years in the MAAC.
Rider collected its 20th victory of the season on Sunday, the 20th consecutive 20-win season for the Broncs.
The Broncs are 8-8 on the Sonny Pittaro field this spring and will look to improve on that with five home games this week.
Temple is one of Rider's oldest rivals, with the series beginning in 1946. Rider and Temple were MAC University Division rivals in the 1960s and the two institutions were instrumental in creating the East Coast Conference in 1974.
The former ECC opponents have met 58 times with Rider holding a 32-26 advantage. The two teams have not met, however, since 2009, when the Broncs won 10-8 in 10 innings at Rider on a walk-off home run by Sean Olson.
The Owls (19-30) dropped two of three Atlantic 10 games to St. Bonaventure over the weekend up in Olean, NY, falling to 7-13 in conference play. Temple closes out the season at home this weekend with three conference games against URI.
Temple is led by senior third baseman Steve Nikorak, the Owls' career leader in doubles who has 56 hits this year, including 12 doubles and six home runs. Nikorak also pitches and has a 1-4 record this year in six starts. Senior infielder Foster Dunigan is batting .309 with 47 hits.
The Broncs are led offensively by juniors Ian Lindsay and Adam Wayman, senior Brandon Cotten and freshman Justin Thomas.
Lindsay (Oaklyn/Haddon Twp.) is the designated hitter and fourth outfielder and leads Rider with a .342 batting average, collecting 51 hits in just 38 games started. Against Iona Lindsay helped Rider clinch the MAAC playoff berth by batting .462 in the series with six hits, four RBI and three runs scored.
This season Lindsay batted .375 against MAAC pitchers.
Wayman (Wilkes-Barre, Pa./G.A.R. Memorial) has played an outstanding third base this season with 103 assists and has collected 52 hits, including a team-high 12 doubles.
Cotten has been considered the best defensive outfielder in the MAAC for some time now and is batting .325 with 55 hits. At Iona Cotten became the 10th Bronc to ever compile 200 career hits and enters his final week of home games with 203 hits, eighth most ever at Rider. Cotten's 139 career runs scored is ninth most ever at Rider.
Sophomore Mike Murphy (Hamilton/Peddie) picked up his fifth win in his last six starts over the weekend and will try to improve on his 6-3 record with one more start in the regular season, against Longwood.
Murphy is among the MAAC leaders in wins, strikeouts (54), innings pitched (85) and earned run average (2.85).
Junior Tyler Smith (Westmont/Haddon Twp.) and freshman Kurt Sowa (Bensalem, PA/Fr. Judge) have combined for an 8-8 record and 130 innings pitched, as well as 98 strikeouts, and will each seek a fifth win of the season against Longwood.
Knowing the Broncs are in the playoffs will make the final week of the regular season a relaxing one.
Let's hope Mother Nature won't make it a wet one.
-ru-
