The Rider University baseball team is within striking distance of the program record for wins in a season after completing a three-game MAAC sweep at Marist over the weekend.
Those three victories moved Lee Lipinski’s Broncs to 28-11 overall and 18-5 in the MAAC. The program record for wins in a season is 36 last reached by the 2023 team that got its 36th victory in extra innings against Coastal Carolina in the NCAA Regionals.
Rider has 11 regular-season games remaining and plus at least two games in the MAAC Tournament in Pomona, N.Y. The Broncs are at Penn State on Wednesday evening and then play a three-game set at Army this weekend.
The final two MAAC series are at Canisius and a huge set the final week of the regular season against Fairfield at Sonny Pittaro Field.
Fairfield (33-10, 18-3) has a one-game lead over Rider atop the standings, although the Stags have a MAAC series in hand, which they play this weekend against Marist. Fairfield has not lost a MAAC series since dropping two of three at Rider during the 2022 season. The Broncs and Stags have not played in the regular season since 2022.
Rider is getting terrific offensive seasons from second baseman Joe Tiroly (.399/.511/.818, 15 HR, 59 RBI), left fielder Kyle Neri (.358/.448/.543, 5 HR, 38 RBI) and right fielder Erich Hartmann (.349/.407/.461).
Tiroly leads the MAAC in homers (15), RBI (59), slugging (.818), on base percentage (.511) and OPS (1.329).
Lefty Brian Young is coming off a complete game two-hit shutout in his last start and has a 7-0 record with a 2.97 ERA over his 10 starts (63.2 innings).
The Broncs’ pitching depth has taken some injury hits with starter P.J. Craig and reliever Gavin Hawkes (1.88 ERA in 38.1 innings) going down with injuries, but Clayton Poliey has come up with quality starts in three of his last four outings and freshman Kyle Batt has produced back-to-back quality starts.
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Things have not gone as well six miles north on Route 206 where Scotty Bradley’s Princeton are in danger of missing the Ivy League Tournament after suffering a sweep at Yale that left the Tigers at 10-29 overall and 6-11 in the Ivy.
Princeton is two games out of the fourth and final ILT spot with four to play. The Tigers have a three-game set at Cornell (11-19, 6-12) this weekend and a make-up game against fourth-place Harvard (11-22, 8-9).
Princeton ranks dead last in Division I with a .209 team batting average. Eighteen times this season it has scored two or fewer runs and is 1-17 in those games.
Bradley is in his 27th season on Old Nassau and has led the Tigers to seven NCAA Tournament appearances, but since their last one in 2016 they have finished over .500 just once (24-23 in 2023).
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In Division III action, TCNJ (23-15-1, 10-7-1) finished third in the NJAC and hosts fourth-seeded Montclair State on Thursday in an opening-round game.
The Lions and Red Hawks closed the regular season with a wild doubleheader that included a 17-14 TCNJ win in game one and a 15-all tie in game two.
After opening-round games on campus sites, the tournament shifts to Yogi Berra Stadium in Little Falls for the remaining games.
There’s always plenty of local flavor on the diamond in Ewing and this season is no different. Shortstop Justin Marcario (Allentown) is second on the team in hitting with a .333 average and outfielder Tyler Provost (Robbinsville) has launched six home runs.
Right-hander Ben Amon (Princeton) is 5-3 with a 3.48 ERA in 54.1 innings.
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