Wagner College Athletics

Senior Ben Ruta (West Windsor, NJ/West-Windsor Plainsboro South) of the baseball team has been named the Walsh Electric Men's Student-Athlete of the Month. Ruta hit for a blistering .463 average (19-for-41) in 11 games during the month of May, with eight runs scored, four doubles and six RBIs while slugging .561 and posting an on-base percentage of .532. In leading the Seahawks to a four-game sweep of defending NEC champion Sacred Heart, Ruta was tabbed NEC Player of the Week on May 16 after batting a sizzling .714 (10-for-14) with seven runs scored, four RBIs and two walks. Hitting more than 100 points higher than any other NEC player over that week, Ruta accounted for a .786 on-base percentage while averaging 2.5 hits and 1.75 runs per contest and reached base safely no fewer than three times. Additionally, he drove in one run in each of Wagner's four victories, compiled with a 4-for-4 showing at the plate during the series opener. He started the scoring for the Seahawks by connecting on a one-out RBI single in the first inning of the eventual 7-2 triumph.  On Wednesday, May 25, the Garden State native was tabbed to his second straight All-NEC First Team.