April 22, 2007
Box Score
Hamden, CT - Quinnipiac (15-10-1; 8-4 NEC) completed the four-game sweep over Wagner (8-25; 3-9 NEC) with a 9-4 win earlier today at Bobcat Field. The Bobcats once again took advantage of Wagner miscues, turning four Seahawk errors into five unearned runs.
Quinnipiac put a three-spot on the scoreboard in the second inning. scoring three runs on the three hits. From that point on Wagner starter AJ Pirozzi (Staten Island, NY / Farrell) settled down and faced just one batter over the minimum in the next four innings.
As they have done all season, the Seahawks would not go down without a fight. Senior Joseph DiGeronimo (Hawthorne, NJ / Hawthorne) laced the second of his three singles up the middle to lead off the fourth. After stealing his second bag of the game he scored when senior Matt Mastrianni (Ringoes, NJ / Hunterdon Central) reached on an error by the second baseman to cut the lead to 3-1.
Wagner trimmed the deficit to 3-2 in the seventh. Sophomore Mike Maffucci (Nutley, NJ / Nutley) looped a one-out single to right field to get the rally started. Freshman Kevin McDonnell (Bristol, CT / Avon Old Farms) then crushed a double to deep right that advanced Maffucci to third. Senior Pat Rogers (Middletown, NJ / Brookdale CC) scored Maffucci on a sacrifice fly to deep right field. Unfortunately for the Green & White, McDonnell would be stranded at third base as Quinnipiac starter Joe Duffy coaxed the next batter into a ground out.
The Bobcats put the game away in the bottom of the seventh scoring six runs, five of which were unearned, while sending nine batters to the plate.
Wagner would get two runs back in the top of the eight when freshman Vin Avella (Matawan, NJ / CBA) crushed his fifth home run of the season, a two-run shot, to right field to make it 9-4.
Unfortunately for the Seahawks that would be as close as they would get as Quinnipiac closed out the series with a 1-2-3 ninth.
DiGeronimo went 3-4 with two runs and two stolen bases to lead the Seahawks. He now has 199 hits for his career and is just two away from tying former teammates Chris Dick and Nick Papa for second on the all-time Seahawk-list. Avella went 2-4 with a double and a two-run home run while senior Ed Sudol (Wallington, NJ / Wallington) also was 2-4 to round out the top performers on offense.
Pirozzi struck out two and gave up six runs, four earned, over 6.2 innings to fall to 1-4 on the season. Duffy yielded four runs, two earned, and struck out four in 7.2 innings to move to 2-0.
Pete Kummerfeldt went 2-3 with a two-run home run while Jeff Mainetti was 2-4 with two runs and two RBI to pace Quinnipiac.
Wagner returns to the road on Wednesday when they travel to Iona for a 3:30 pm game.
