April 6, 2008

Box Score

Staten Island, NY - Wagner shut out LIU 2-0 in game one of today's doubleheader at Richmond County Bank Ballpark. With their second-straight shutout the Green & White are now 10-12 and 3-0 in the Northeast Conference while the Blackbirds fall to 8-16 and 0-3 in conference play.

Sophomore RHP Matt Watson (Howell, NJ / Howell) struck out a career-high five while scattering four hits and three walks over 6.0 shutout innings in moving to 3-3 on the year. Junior Andrew Huebner (Hatfield, PA / North Penn) struck out two in a hitless inning of work to collect his NEC-best fifth save of the year.

Wagner struck right away in the bottom of the first. Sophomore Damian Csakai (Freehold, NJ / Freehold) and junior Chris Drechsel (Cranford, NJ / Cranford) each singled to right field. Csakai would then come around to score on a passed ball, staking Wagner to the early 1-0 lead.

The Green & White would tack on another run in the third when Brian Martutartus (Carlsbad, CA / La Costa Canyon) scored on a pass ball. The sophomore shortstop reached on an error by the right fielder before he was bunted over to third by Csakai.

Watson, meanwhile, was extremely efficient throughout. He erased walks in the first and second by inducing inning-ending double plays.

LIU finally got something going in the third, using a pair of errors and a hit for a second-and-third two-out situation. The rally would go for naught as Watson coaxed Gerard Tingos into a routine fly out to right.

In the fourth and the sixth frames the Blackbirds had runners thrown out trying to steal by Drechsel, quellingany hopes of a LIU comeback.

James Jones (1-3) struck out six while yielding just two unearned runs on three hits over 6.0 innings. He also recorded one of LIU's four hits at the plate.

Drechsel was 2-2 with a double, walk and sacrifice bunt to lead the Green & White offensively.