April 27, 2008
Box Score
Emmitsburg, MD - Wagner was evaded by timely hitting as the Green & White stranded runners in every inning for a total of 12 in its 3-2 loss in the fourth and final game of this weekend's series with Mount St. Mary's at the Straw Family Stadium. With the loss, the Seahawks fall to 18-21 and 9-7 in the Northeast Conference (NEC) while the Mount improves to 12-25 and 8-7 in the NEC.
Despite the loss the Green & White are in third place in the race for the four-team NEC Tournament. CCSU is in second place, one game in front of Wagner.The Mount is a half game back in fourth while Sacred Heart is fifth, one full game back of Wagner.
The Seahawks out-hit the Mount 10-6 but stranded runners in scoring position in five of the nine frames.
Sophomore Damian Csakai (Freehold, NJ / Freehold) went 3-4, with two runs, two stolen bases and a double. The speedy centerfielder now has a NEC-best 20 stolen bases. Classmate Kevin Payne (Staten Island, NY / St. Peter's) drove in both Wagner runs and went 2-3 with a hit-by-pitch.
Lost in defeat was the outstanding relief outing by junior Andy Wells (Staten Island, NY / St. Peter's). The hard-throwing righty struck out four while yielding just two singles and an intentional walk over 5.0 shutout innings.
Ryan Murray got the Mount on the board first with a solo home run to right-center, leading off the bottom of the third.
Murray struck again in the third with a bases-loaded two-run single to left field, extending the Mount lead out to 3-0. Wagner starter LHP Jack Rice (Middlesex, NJ / Immaculata) escaped further damage by inducing a two-out pop up with the bases loaded.
Wagner got one of the runs back in the top of the fourth. Csakai reached on an infield single and proceeded to steal second before being brought around on Payne's RBI single to left field.
Wells entered in relief in the bottom of the fourth and proceeded to shut down the Mount offense, retiring the side in order in two of the next three frames.
Mount would threaten to get that run back in the bottom of the seventh. After Shane Eyler singled to lead off the inning, Matt Eiden moved him over to second with a sacrifice. Facing his first tough spot of the afternoon, Wells proceeded to strike out Drew Counselman looking on three nasty pitches. Then after an intentional walk to Josh Vittek, Wells induced an inning-ending ground out.
The Seahawks went back to the Csakai-Payne combination in the eighth. Csakai hit a two-out double down the left-field line before Payne again brought him around on a single to left field, cutting the lead to 3-2.
After Wells worked around a one-out single in the eighth, Wagner had one last crack in the ninth. Unfortunately, the Green & White could only work a two-out walk by sophomore Kevin McDonnell (Bristol, CT / Avon Old Farms) before Mount starter Mike Matta induced a ground ball to the mound for the final out of the game.
McDonnell joined Csakai and Payne as the only players to record multiple-hits, going 2-4.
Matta (4-1) yielded two runs while scattering 10 hits in a complete-game effort while Murray provided the offense, going 3-4 with a home run and three RBI. Josh Vittek also recorded his 199th career hit, matching the school-record.
Rice struck out two and yielded three runs over 3.0 innings in falling to 4-3.
Wagner will next be in action when the Seahawks play at Lafayette on Tuesday at 4 pm.
