Rider starts defense of MAAC Tournament title
The Rider baseball begins its quest for a second consecutive Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Tournament championship on Wednesday when it opens with a first-round game against Monmouth.
The Broncs bashed their way to the league’s automatic NCAA Tournament berth last season, and will likely need to catch fire from the No. 5 seed at Clover Stadium in Pomona, N.Y. to defend their title.
Rider (25-24, 12-10) sputtered to the finish line by dropping two of three at Saint Peter’s on the final weekend, but still managed the top-six finish required to make the tournament.
The MAAC Tournament runs from May 2528, and the Broncs could be sent packing as early as Wednesday night if they drop a pair of games. First up is a matchup against No. 4 seed Monmouth, which took two of three in the regular season. All three of those contests were tight — decided by two runs, one run and one run again — with Rider having the tying run thrown out at the plate in the ninth inning of the rubber game.
“I think we are two very evenly matched teams and it’s going to be a great game,” junior outfielder Brendan O’Donnell said. “Obviously, the team that plays better is going to win. You’re looking at a good pitcher that they have, but I trust our pitchers as well. Offensively, we just got to do our job.”
Suffice to say, there is little separating the top six teams in the MAAC.
Fairfield, Marist and Canisius are the top three seeds and Rider took two of three from both Fairfield and Canisius, while Marist won the lone meeting the teams had because inclement weather wiped out the other two games.
O’Donnell was named to the All-MAAC Second Team after he led the Broncs in runs (38), doubles (10), home runs (16), and RBIs (50). His 16 home runs are second in the MAAC and one short of Rider’s program record. O’Donnell’s 50 RBIs ranks sixth in the MAAC. Not just an offensive weapon, O’Donnell has seven outfield assists during the year.
Junior catcher Socrates Bardatsos brings a ninegame hitting streak in which he is batting .428 (15-for-35) with a home run and 4 RBIs into the tournament. Bardatsos has a .315/.440/.453 slash in 49 games this season.
“One through nine in the lineup, I would say were pretty consistent,” Bardatsos said. “We have players who work hard and grind out at-bats. We may not have a superstar, but we have players who play hard and grind and that’s enough to have us win.”
The pitching was in the middle of the pack — a 5.37 ERA ranked fifth in the 11-team league — and although the top-of-therotation duo of Joe Papeo (5-5, 7.26) and Frank Doelling (4-7, 5.23) has been inconsistent, they have won games in the MAAC Tournament before. If they can get the ball to top reliever Danny Kirwin (3.35 ERA, 47 strikeouts in 40.1 innings) with the lead, Rider can once again be successful.