April 26, 2008
Box Score
Emmitsburg, MD - Vin Avella (Matawan, NJ / CBA) crushed two home runs while Matt Watson (Howell, NJ / Howell) hurled his first career shutout, leading Wagner to a doubleheader sweep over Mount St. Mary's with a 8-0 win in game two at Straw Family Stadium. With the win, the Seahawks improve to 18-20 and 9-6 in the Northeast Conference (NEC) while the Mount drops to 11-25 and 7-7 in the NEC.
The Green & White captured game-one by a 5-0 score.
Watson struck out a career-high six while scattering just four hits and two walks over 7.0 shutout innings. The sophomore righty recorded three 1-2-3 innings and retired seven of the last eight batters he faced in improving to 4-5.
Wagner picked up right where it left off in game one, scoring four first-inning runs while batting around and chasing Mount St. Mary's starter RHP Brett Moore. Sophomore Joe Conforti (Staten Island, NY / Farrell) reached on an error by the shortstop before Vin Avella (Matawan, NJ / CBA) doubled off the right-field fence. Freshman Seth Boyd (Perth Amboy, NJ / Perth Amboy) plated Conforti with a single through the left-side while moving Avella to third. Sophomore Kevin McDonnell (Bristol, CT / Avon Old Farms) brought around Avella with a RBI groundout. Freshman Jon Lucas (Hackettstown, NJ / Hackettstown) kept it going with a two-out single to left to bring around Boyd. Sophomore Damian Csakai's (Freehold, NJ / Freehold) infield single moved Lucas over to third before classmate Kevin Payne (Staten Island, NY / St. Peter's) capped the four-run first with a RBI single.
Avella extended the lead out to 5-0 with a solo shot to right field in the second.
In the fifth, Wagner scored two more runs to make it 7-0 as Lucas and Csakai delivered run-scoring singles.
Avella capped the scoring with his second home run of the game and his team-leading ninth of the year. The slugging first baseman went 3-4 with two home runs, three runs, two RBI and a double to lead the Green & White. Lucas and Csakai also recorded two his on the day to round out the top-performers on offense.
Mount St. Mary's could not get anything going against Watson, failing to reach base until the third while scratching out just one hit over the first four frames. The Mountaineers recorded back-to-back hits with one out in the fifth only to see Watson induce inning-ending fly outs to centerfield.
Moore yielded four runs, one unearned, over two-thirds of an inning in falling to 1-6.
Wagner will look to capture the series tomorrow at 1 pm.
NOTES: Wagner improves to 7-1 in seven-inning NEC games ... The Seahawks pitching staff's ERA is now 4.18 on the year ... Wagner's NEC ERA also dropped to 2.48 ... This marks the second time this year Wagner has recorded back-to-back shutouts after failing to do so once in head coach Joe Litterio's first eight years ... With their 18th win the Seahawks eclipsed last year's total (17) and are just seven wins off of the school-record total of 24.
