BOX SCORE
Baltimore, MD – Junior
Vin Avella (Matawan, NJ / CBA) crushed three home runs to lead Wagner (5-2) to its fifth-straight win, 21-0 over Coppin State (0-8) at Joe Cannon Stadium. Freshman RHP
Ryan Van Spronsen (Brantford, Ontario / Assumption College) hurled the Seahawks' second-straight shutout, collecting his first collegiate win with 7.0 innings of two-hit ball while notching four strikeouts.
Eleven different Seahawks batted safely, including six who notched multiple-hits, as the Green & White scored 21 runs on 20 hits. Avella led the way, going 4-5 with a career-high three home runs and nine RBI. The power-hitting first baseman also walked and was retired just once on a fly ball that the centerfielder caught at the fence.
On the year, Avella is batting .321 with six home runs, 16 RBI and a 1.000 slugging percentage.
Wagner scored in the opening frame for the second-straight game. Avella walked on four pitches with one out. After moving over to second on a pass ball, Avella advanced to third on a
Matt Logan (So., Wall, NJ / Wall) single through the right side. Classmate
Joe Jamison (West Caldwell, NJ / James Caldwell) brought home Avella with a single through the left side, making it 1-0 Wagner.
The Seahawks added to the lead with a run in the top of the second. Sophomore
Jack Rice (Middlesex, NJ / Immaculata) reached with a one-out infield single. Classmate
Brian Martutartus (Carlsbad, CA / La Costa Canyon) moved him over to third with a single through the right side. Junior
Damian Csakai (Freehold, NJ / Freehold) made it to 2-0 Wagner with a sacrifice fly to center, plating Rice.
In the top of the fifth, the Green & White struck for three runs. Avella made it 4-0 with a mammoth two-run shot to deep left field, reaching the water tower some 50 feet away from the fence on the fly. The Green & White added one more run in the frame, pushing the lead out to 5-0. Sophomore
Seth Boyd (Perth Amboy, NJ / Perth Amboy) and senior
Chris Drechsel (Cranford, NJ / Cranford) delivered two-out singles, before Boyd scored on a wild pitch.
The Green & White put the game away in the top of the sixth, scoring 12 runs while sending 16 batters to the plate. Avella led the offensive onslaught with two home runs and five RBI in the frame, hitting a three-run shot off the top of the right-field fence before blasting a two-run shot to straight-away center.
Wagner tacked on four runs, highlighted by a two-run single from Avella, in the top of the seventh while sending nine batters to the plate, accounting for the final 21-0 score.
In his first collegiate start, Van Spronsen escaped early trouble, picking off a runner in the first before inducing a 5-4-3 double play in the third. He then recorded a 1-2-3 fourth inning, using just three pitches. Van Spronsen ran allowed the first two batters in the sixth to reach safely before inducing a line-drive double play. The Seahawk defense recorded its third double-play of the game in the seventh before Van Spronsen closed out the game by inducing a ground out.
Jonathan Reynolds (0-2) took the loss, yielding five runs on nine hits over 5.0 innings.
The Seahawks are back in action tonight at 8:00 pm at No. 7 Virginia. Live stats can be accessed through the Wagner Athletics website.
