Baseball Sweeps St. Elizabeth on Opening Day

MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. – The Rivier baseball team kicked off its 2024 campaign with a pair of wins over St. Elizabeth on Sunday night at The Ripken Experience's Polo Grounds.

The Raiders began the season in the win column for the first time since opening day in March 2015 as they jumped to 2-0 while the Eagles fell to 1-4 following the pair of losses.

Rivier will continue its Spring Break trip on Monday, March 4 with a 10:00 p.m. first pitch against John Jay scheduled for 10:00 a.m. at Myrtle Beach High School.

Rivier 3, St. Elizabeth 1 (7 innings)

Following a scoreless first inning, Rivier jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the second as Jacob Boudreau's single with runners on first and second drove in JD Normand and an errant throw from right field scored Luis Tejada.

Starting pitcher Nolan Mederos would give the Raiders five scoreless innings on the bump, striking out five while walking four batters and allowing just one hit to claim the victory.

In the sixth, Rivier would get some insurance as a Frank Gulezian single was misplayed by the left fielder, allowing Dylan Aliberti to score with ease from second and make it a 3-0 ballgame.

St. Elizabeth would get one back in the top of the seventh, but the comeback bid would be too little, too late as Brendan Ferris closed things up on the mound, earning his first save of the campaign.

Rivier 4, St. Elizabeth 2 (7 innings)

Rivier hopped out to an early lead again in game two of the doubleheader, scoring in the second as a failed pickoff attempt led to Luis Tejada crossing the place for the first run of the contest.

Tejada would score again an inning later as Luis Colon drove a single to center field to give the Raiders a 2-0 cushion.

In the top of the fourth inning, Kyle Hsu launched a pitch high in the air to right field which got over the fence for his first NCAA homerun which drove in two runs, doubling Rivier's advantage.

The Hawks responded with a quick run in the bottom half of the frame forcing the Raiders to go to the bullpen. Dean Adams came into the contest in his collegiate debut with the bases loaded and two outs. After an infield single cut St. Elizabeth's deficit to two runs, Adams jammed a Hawks batter who flew out to right to end the inning.

St. Elizabeth threatened again in the sixth as the bases loaded following three singles from the first four batters. With just one out, Rivier turned to Ty Baker who fanned the next two batters to get out of the jam and send the game to the final inning.