May 19, 2007
Box Score
West Long Branch, NJ - Junior lhp Joe Testa (Brick, NJ / Brick) matched his career-high with 12 strikeouts over 7.0 innings while yielding just two hits and facing one over the minimum in Wagner's 3-0 win over Monmouth in game one of today's doubleheader at the MU Baseball Field. With the win the Seahawks move to 16-32 and 10-15 in the NEC while the Hawks fall to 31-20-1 and 15-9 in conference-play.
Testa was dominant from the get-go retiring the first 12 batters he faced, including nine via the K, and struck out the side in the third and fourth innings. His 12 strikeouts give him 82 for the season and 22 8 for his career, both of which rank third in the Wagner annals. Testa has the top-strike out mark in school history with 98 punchouts from a year ago and is just one away from former teammate Mike McTamney for second on the career-list. It is also was the second time he recorded double-digits in strikeouts this season and the fifth in his career.
The Seahawks wasted no time staking Testa to a lead. Freshman Damian Csakai (Freehold, NJ / Freehold) started the game off with an infield single to the shortstop. After stealing his 20th base in as many opportunities he advanced to third on senior Joseph DiGeronimo's (Hawthorne, NJ / Hawthorne) single through the right side. DiGeronimo then swiped second and the catcher's errant throw sailed into centerfield allowing Csakai to score and DiGeronimo to advance to third. Fellow senior Matt Mastrianni (Ringoes, NJ / Hunterdon Central) then singled sharply up the middle to plate DiGeronimo and put Wagner up 2-0.
Wagner would add another run in the fourth. Freshman Vin Avella (Matawan, NJ / CBA) and senior Ed Sudol (Wallington, NJ / Wallington) each singled to lead off the inning. After a fielder's choice, sophomore Chris Drechsel (Cranford, NJ / Cranford) singled to left field, plating Sudol to make it 3-0.
Rick Niederhaus broke up the perfecto in the fifth inning with a leadoff single before Testa struck out the next two batters and induced a ground ball to end the inning. Monmouth got a one-out single in the sixth and Kyle Higgins hit a deep fly to center that Csakai corralled with an over the shoulder catch and proceeded to double up John Dennis at first. Testa closed out the game with a 1-2-3 ninth, highlighted by senior Pat Rogers' (Middletown, NJ / Brookdale CC) diving catch on a Niederhaus line-drive to preserve the two-hitter.
With the win Testa improves to 4-6 while lowering his team-best ERA to 3.01 over 80.2 innings of work. Ryan Buch yielded three runs, two earned, while falling to 8-2.
Csakai went 2-3 with a double, run and two stolen bases while DiGeronimo went 1-2 with a run and two stolen bases to lead the Wagner-offense.
