NIAGARA FALLS, N.Y. – The Purple Eagles have their final MAAC home series of the season when they face the Rider Broncs on Saturday and Sunday at Sal Maglie Stadium.
 
Niagara (15-28, 9-9 MAAC) enters the matchup with the highest team batting average against MAAC opponents, hitting .287 through the 18 conference games.  They also have a conference-leading 27 doubles and six homeruns, one of which came last weekend off the bat of McCauley in a 9-8 win over Fairfield.  It was his fourth round-tripper of the year, which leads the team. 
 
Kyle Olver (3-7), who leads the conference in innings pitched (43.2), strike outs (39), and batters struck out looking (12) against MAAC opponents is expected to take the mound in game one. 
 
Sophomore Jordan Schwartz is coming off a MAAC Player of the Week award winning week with a .533 batting average, five RBIs and a .667 slugging percentage.  Anthony Caringi took the Pitcher of the Week award after not giving up an earned run in wins against Buffalo and Fairfield.
 
The Broncs (27-17, 11-4 MAAC) have won seven of their last 10 games, with the losses against Saint Peter’s Siena, and Saint Joseph’s.  Jerry Muldering leads the team with a .360 average and 10 extra base hits.  Tyler Smith (5-4) leads the starters with a 2.61 ERA and will face Olver in the opener on Saturday.  Mike Murphy (5-4) and Kurt Sowa (8-1) will takes games two and three, respectively.
 
The series gets underway with a doubleheader on Saturday at Noon.  Sunday’s game, also a Noon start, is Senior Day and will feature a pregame ceremony to honor this year’s senior class.