BOX SCORE (PDF)

WILSON, N.C. – In a battle of staff aces Friday afternoon, a three-run 6th inning by Rider was the difference in a 4-1 win by the Broncs (7-4) over the St. Bonaventure baseball team (3-7) in the first game of a neutral-site four-game series just outside Raleigh.

Redshirt senior Eddie Gray started for the Bonnies and allowed just one run entering the 6th inning before the Broncs broke out for those three runs. He took the loss (0-2) while tossing six innings, scattering eight hits, allowing four earned runs, walking three and striking out five. On the other side, fellow Rider southpaw Tyler Smith (3-1) went seven innings, allowing five hits, striking out seven and walking just one.

Bonaventure managed just five hits all afternoon – coming from five different players – with the lone run-producing hit of the day coming off the bat of senior Austin Ingraham. Justin Brozick had a double, and Michael Meredith, Billy Urban and Bret Heath added SBU's other hits. Jason Radwan reached on an error, but the senior's 17-game hitting streak – the longest active stretch in the Atlantic 10 – was broken in an 0-4 day at the plate.

The Bonnies had a runner in scoring position in both the 3rd and 4th innings, but couldn't plate a run. Rider then took advantage of a leadoff single in the bottom of the 5th as the game's first run came around to score on a two-out single to left by the Broncs' leadoff hitter.

However, SBU answered in its next at bat as Brozick sent a full-count two-out double off the left-centerfield wall to keep the inning alive. Ingraham then sent the first pitch he saw the opposite field over the shortstop's head to tie the contest at 1-1.

Rider, which dropped a pair of one-run games last weekend at No. 6 South Carolina, responded with three runs in its portion of the 6th to reclaim the lead, 4-1. Gray was able to avoid further damage by getting out of a bases-loaded jam to end the inning and his afternoon, but the Brown and White couldn't score again.

The two teams meet again on Saturday in a pair of 7-inning doubleheader contests. The first game is scheduled to start at 4 p.m., with game two set for approximately 7 p.m. Andrew Revello will get the start on the mound for the Bonnies in the first game, with Steven Klimek getting the ball to open game two.

GAME NOTES: The start time was moved from 12:40 from its original 12:00 p.m. time to allow for a backup umpire crew to arrive … Rider had five stolen bases compared with Bona's one by Ingraham.