LAWRENCEVILLE, N.J. - The Niagara baseball team (17-21, 6-9 MAAC) lost a tightly fought road game on Sunday to Rider (22-16, 12-6 MAAC), 5-4. Sophomore Jason Cramer (Jackson, N.J.) knocked in a career-high four runs in the loss.

Sophomore pitcher Marcus Spaulding (Copenhagen, N.Y.) took the tough-luck loss on the hill despite pitching a gem. The right-hander pitched six scoreless innings of two-hit baseball, but ran into trouble in the seventh. Spaulding walked two batters and allowed a one-out single to load the bases. The sophomore then got Rider's catcher to hit a groundball towards short, but it was a well placed soft groundball that found its way to the outfield, scoring a run.

The coaching staff then went to Dennis Chachko (Oceanport, N.J.) to get Niagara out of the jam. Chachko hit his first batter in the foot and allowed a bases-clearing double that gave Rider a 5-3 lead.

"Marcus Spaulding was couragous on the mound for us [Sunday], and didn't deserve the outcome that he got," Niagara head coach Chris Chernisky said. "But that's baseball. One well placed groundball and a hard-hit double did us in."

Cramer got the Purple Eagles offense going in the fourth inning with a three-RBI double. Tim Alberts (Baldwinsville, N.Y.) led the inning off with a single, and Harrison Harber (Kanata, Ont.) and Frank Kurnik (Reno, Nev.) reached base via a hit-by-pitch and a walk, respectively. Cramer made the Broncs pay, lining a laser down the left-field line, scoring all three runs to give NU the early advantage.

Back-to-back singles by Alberts and Harber led off the eight inning, and the Niagara seniors were moved into scoring position with a sacrifice bunt by Kurnik. Cramer grounded out short despite a two-strike count, scoring Alberts to cut the defecit to one, but that's as close as Niagara would get. Alberts flied out to the deepest part of center field in the ninth with two runners on to end the Purple Eagle comeback effort.

Spaulding allowed two base hits in the first inning, but worked out of the early jam. He didn't allow a another hit until the seventh inning, but worked out of a few jams, inducing a few double plays.

Niagara is back in action on Tuesday with the opening round of the Big 4 Classic with a road game at Canisius.