May 10, 2008
Box Score
New Britain, CT - Sophomore Tom DiPietro's (Staten Island, NY / Felician) pinch-hit sacrifice fly in the top of the 10th plated sophomore Damian Csakai (Freehold, NJ / Freehold), propelling the Green & White to a 3-2 extra-inning win over Central Connecticut and a split of today's doubleheader at Beehive Field.
Csakai gave CCSU fits all game, going 3-5 with three stolen bases and two runs scored. In the top of the 10th, after advancing to second on a fielder's choice, the speedy centerfielder stole third base before scoring on DiPietro's sacrifice fly. He now has 25 stolen bases in 26 attempts on the year and 46 in 47 attempts for his career.
Despite being out-hit 10-7 the Green & White improved to 23-23 and 14-8 in the Northeast Conference (NEC) while the Blue Devils are 21-20 and 15-7. CCSU clinched a playoff berth with its win in game one. Wagner needs only to win one game or have Sacred Heart (8-14 NEC) and Fairleigh Dickinson (8-13 NEC) each lose one game to clinch a post-season berth.
Reigning NEC Pitcher of the Week Andrew Huebner (Hatfield, PA / North Penn) evened his record at 1-1, throwing 2.0 scoreless innings of relief in picking up the win.
Wagner Joe Testa (Brick, NJ / Brick) turned in another excellent outing. The hard-throwing lefty struck out nine while allowing just two unearned runs on nine hits over 8.0 innings. Despite the no-decision, Testa became the first Seahawk in school-history to record over 300 strikeouts with his punch-out of Anthony Scialdone in the bottom of the seventh. Testa also set the school record for innings pitched when he completed the fifth frame. He now has 302 strikeouts in 285.1 innings of work while lowering his 2008 ERA to a NEC-best 1.53.
Csakai led off the first with a single to left-center. He then swiped his 23rd base of the year. Classmate Joe Conforti (Staten Island, NY / Farrell) moved Csakai over to third with a sacrifice bunt. Csakai would come around to score on a wild pitch, staking Wagner to a 1-0 lead.
CCSU would take the lead in the bottom of the second with two unearned runs. With two outs and runners at second-and-third, Sean Allaire singled through the left-side, scoring Tommy Meade and Kyle Zarontey.
Wagner would tie the game up in the top of the fourth. Sophomore Vin Avella (Matawan, NJ / CBA) was hit by a pitch to lead off the frame. He was moved over to third with one out on Kevin McDonnell's (So., Bristol, CT / Avon Old Farms) single to right-center. Freshman Jon Lucas (Hackettstown, NJ / Hackettstown) evened the score up at 2-2 when he blasted a RBI-single to right, scoring Avella.
The teams would mount numerous scoring-opportunities but come away empty-handed until Wagner pushed one across in the top of the 10th in improving to 12-1 in conference-games when scoring at least three runs and 2-1 in extra-inning games on the year.
In today's doubleheader-split, the bullpen allowed zero earned runs over 7.1 innings and has yielded just one earned run over the last 24.1 innings. Wagner's team-ERA is now 3.79, including just 2.07 during NEC-play.
Taylor Kosakowski struck out seven and yielded just two runs over 8.0 innings of work in collecting the no-decision. Donny White fell to 1-2 despite giving up just one unearned run in 2.0 innings of relief.
The teams will finish their four-game set tomorrow with a 12 pm doubleheader. Game one will be seven innings with the night-cap slated for nine innings.
