March 7, 2008
Box Score
Philadelphia, PA - Fueled by the dominant pitching of senior LHP Joe Testa (Brick, NJ / Brick) and an all-around offensive attack that collected 11 runs on 13 hits, by 10 different players, the Wagner Seahawks defeated Temple 11-3 at Skip Wilson Field. Wagner moves to 2-3 while the Owls are 3-5. Game two of today's schedule doubleheader was cancelled due to rain.
Testa set the Wagner school-record for career strikeouts with his punch out of Carmen Del Mastro in the bottom of the seventh, the 238th of his career, moving him past former teammate and current Oakland A farmhand Andrew Bailey. Testa improves to 1-1 on the year with his second-straight solid start, striking out three over 7.0 solid innings while scattering one run on five hits and four walks. He also moved past Bailey for fifth place on the all-time innings pitched list and now has 222.0 IP.
The Green & White were aided by five Temple errors that led to five unearned runs.
Wagner got on the board in the top of the third. Senior Dan Morvay (Jackson, NJ / Jackson Memorial) doubled down the right field line to lead off the frame. After advancing to third on a Brian Martutartus (Fr., Carlsbad, CA / La Costa Canyon) bunt, Morvay was brought home on sophomore Damian Csakai's (Freehold, NJ / Freehold) sacrifice fly.
The Seahawks would add to the lead in the top of the fourth. Sophomore Tom DiPietro (Staten Island, NY / Felician) began the inning with a walk. With one out, junior Chris Drechsel (Cranford, NJ / Cranford) moved DiPietro over to second with a single through the left side. After a fly-out, Martutartus picked up the two-out RBI with a single to left-center, plating DiPietro. The inning was kept alive when Csakai reached on an error by the third baseman, allowing Martutartus and Drechsel to score. Freshman Seth Boyd (Perth Amboy, NJ / Perth Amboy) capped the scoring with an RBI single to right field to put Wagner up 5-0.
The Green & White again went to the unearned-run well in the fifth inning. DiPietro led off with a single for the second-straight inning and reigning NEC Player of the Week sophomore Kevin McDonnell (Bristol, CT / Avon Old Farms) followed with a single of his own. Drechsel laid down a sacrifice bunt to move the pair into scoring position. After the Owls induced a fielder's choice at the plate they made their second two-out miscue of the day, an error by the right fielder that allowed McDonnell to score. Temple would then make their fourth error of the day, allowing Morvay to score and make it 7-0 Wagner. The Seahawks would add three more in the eighth and one in the ninth while the Owls finally got on the board with one in each of the last three innings.
Testa did his part on the mound, cruising through 7.0 innings of one-run ball. The senior lefty retired the first eight batters of the game and did not allow a hit until the fourth. He finished up with two strikeouts while scattering three hits and three walks.
Freshman Jon Lucas (Hackettstown, NJ / Hackettstown) went 3-6 to lead the Wagner hit-parade while Martutartus went 2-4 with two RBI.
Temple's Tom Dolan was the tough-luck loser, allowing seven runs, just two earned, over 4.2 innings in falling to 0-2 on the young season.
Though heavy rains are scheduled for tomorrow all along the East Coast, the Seahawks are scheduled to play Villanova tomorrow in Philadelphia at 12 pm.
