RIDER KNOCKS OFF SIENA 7-1 IN MAAC CHAMPIONSHIP OPENING ROUND
MAAC Sports
TRENTON, NJ – Senior lefthander Tyler Smith scattered five hits and struck out nine in seven innings to lead top-seeded Rider to a 7-1 win over No. 4 seed Siena in the second game of the 2013 MAAC Baseball Championship’s opening round doubleheader at ARM & HAMMER Park.
The victory puts the Broncs, now 35-20, into the winner’s bracket where they will face No. 3 seed Canisius at 7 p.m. on Friday, at 7 p.m. Canisius was a 2-1 winner over Marist in the first game of the MAAC Championship Tournament. Siena will take on Marist in the first game of Friday’s scheduled doubleheader, at 3 p.m.
Rider coach Barry Davis, who earned MAAC “Coach of the Year” honors, was pleased to come away with a win in the tournament’s first contest. “Winning the first game puts you in good position, because if we win tomorrow we’re in the catbird seat,” he said.
Smith raised his record to 7-5 with the gutty performance. After shutting down Siena 1-2-3 in the first inning, Smith stranded five Saints runners in the next three frames but still held them scoreless. He allowed just one unearned run on the evening.
“I had my fastball working in the beginning, and was able to connect inside and outside. I didn’t find my splitter until midway through,” Smith said. “I pitched through some stressed innings, but the defense made some plays behind me.”
Rider staked Smith to a 6-0 lead through six innings, scoring single runs in the first, third, fourth and sixth, and scoring two runs in the fifth. The Broncs struck first in first inning when leftfielder Ian Lindsay doubled down the right field line with one out, and third baseman Adam Wayman followed with a double to right for a 1-0 lead.
The Broncs scored again in the third when shortstop Mike Parsons singled to right, and Wayman belted his second double of the game to score Parsons. Rider scored two runs in the fifth inning on two hits and two Siena errors to take a 5-0 lead. Freshman centerfielder James Locklear had an RBI single in the sixth to make it 6-0.
Lindsay and Wayman each had two hits and two RBI for the Broncs.
Siena, which fell to 25-29, scored its lone run in the eighth when leftfielder Andres Ortiz led off with a double, and advanced to third when centerfielder Mike Fish reached on an error. Ortiz then scored on a double play.
Second baseman Mike Allen collected two hits for the Saints.
Smith outdueled Siena’s Matt Gage, who allowed nine hits and six runs in 5.1 innings. Gage had defeated Rider 7-4 on April 27 during the regular season.
The start of the game was delayed two hours due to rain, and finished one minute past midnight.