Baltimore, MD – After dropping a pair of games to nationally regarded opponents last weekend in South Carolina, the Wagner Seahawks resume play on Saturday, March 7 with a 12 pm doubleheader at UMBC. Game one will be seven innings and game two is slated for nine innings. The Seahawks then play a single neutral-site game against Yale on Sunday at 12 pm.

The Green & White enter with a 0-2 record after falling to No. 18 Kent State and Winthrop. UMBC and Yale have yet to play a game and will open their seasons against the Seahawks.

Last weekend, sophomores Brian Martutartus (La Costa Canyon) and Joe Jamison (West Caldwell, NJ / James Caldwell) led the way for the Seahawks with two hits apiece. On the mound, junior RHP Kyle Morrison (Middlesex, NJ / Immaculata) struck out seven over 4.1 innings against a potent Golden Flash squad while senior RHP Andy Wells (Staten Island, NY / St. Peter's) fanned five over 5.0 innings against the home-standing Eagles. Sophomore AJ Pirozzi (Staten Island, NY / Farrell) also looked good in his return to live pitching after missing all of 2008 due to injury, striking out two over 1.2 innings of work.

UMBC returns 17 letterwinners, including five starting position players and two starting pitchers, from last year's squad that went 21-29 and 13-11 in the American East while qualifying for the conference tournament. Senior Wink Nolan started all 50 games, hitting .328 with 65 hits while earning Second Team American East accolades. Classmate Brad Brainer batted .336 while fellow senior Shawn Retz checked in with a .322 average. On the mound, junior LHP Eddie Bach went 3-6 with 35 strikeouts over 79.1 innings. In 2007, he struck out eight over 8.0 innings of shutout ball in leading the Retrievers to a 5-0 game-two win over the Seahawks. Senior RHP Dan Blewett returns after starting 13 games in 2008. He went 4-5 with 55 strikeouts over 86.0 innings. The last time these two teams met, Blewett started and took the loss in game three, yielding three runs on 12 hits with seven strikeouts over 7.0 innings of work.

Morrison and Pirozzi each had outstanding pitching performances in 2007 against UMBC. Morrison needed just 80 pitches to collect his first complete game. The hard-throwing righty struck out six, while not walking a batter, and yielding just one earned run on five hits over 8.0 innings of work in a 5-0 game-two loss. Pirozzi started and collected his first collegiate win in game three, striking out three over 6.0 innings of one-run ball.

Wagner will play one game with Yale on Sunday, reviving a rivalry that has been dormant since the 2001 season. Last year, the Bulldogs went 20-24-1 and 9-10-1 in the Ivy League but lost three student-athletes to the professional ranks, including Second Team All-Ivy selection Ryan Lavarnway, who was a sixth-round pick of the Boston Red Sox. Yale returns six players on offense that started at least 20 games in 2008, led by Second Team All Ivy pick Stefan Schropp, who batted .345 with 51 hits, 23 runs and nine doubles. The Bulldogs graduated their No. 1 pitcher and closer to the professional ranks but return two pitchers that started at least 10 games a year ago in senior RHP Brandon Josselyn (2-7; 7.28 ERA; 47.0 IP; 33 K; 14 BB) and junior RHP Chris Finneran (2-4; 5.77 ERA; 43.2 IP; 34 K; 23 BB).

NOTES:
• Head coach Joe Litterio is 5-11 all-time against UMBC, including 2-7 in Baltimore, and 0-2 vs. Yale.

• In Litterio's first year at Wagner his Seahawk squad blasted the top seeded Retrievers 16-1 in the first game of the 2000 NEC Tournament on the way to the school's only NCAA Regional bid.

• UMBC was a member of the NEC for five seasons from 1998 to 2003 and claimed the 2001 NEC Baseball Championship.

• Head coach John Jancuska begins his 32nd season at UMBC and has posted a 654-640-6 mark.

• Former Major Leaguers Jay Witasick and Wayne Franklin each attended UMBC. Witasick played for the New York Yankees in the 2001 World Series.

• Second baseman Seth Boyd's (Perth Amboy, NJ / Perth Amboy) brother Jared played at UMBC and was the 2002 NEC Player of the Year.

• Yale coach John Stuper begins his 17th season this weekend and holds a 322-348-1 mark. Like Litterio, he led his squad to the NCAA Regionals in his first year (1993) as head man.

• Stuper has coached 25 student-athletes that have been signed to professional contracts and two All-Americans.

• Stuper enjoyed a four-year Major League Baseball career, playing for the St. Louis Cardinals and Cincinnati Reds from 1982-1985. He helped the Cardinals to the 1982 World Series Championship, hurling a complete game four-hitter in St. Louis' 13-1 game-six victory.

• While in the majors, Stuper played for Whitey Herzog and Pete Rose. Ironically, former Yale President and Major League commissioner A. Bart Giamatti presided over MLB when Rose voluntarily agreed to permanent ineligibility from baseball.

• Yale has taken part in the College World Series on two occasions, 1947 and 1948. Former president George Herbert Walker Bush was a first baseman on the 1947 squad.

• Former New York Mets standout and current SNY broadcaster Ron Darling was a pitcher and position player for Yale from 1979-1981.

• Yale assistant coach Matt Memoli played baseball at CCSU and was an All-NEC Second Team selection in 2007.

• Both Wagner and Yale knocked off National Ranked opponents in 2008. The Seahawks defeated No. 22 St. John's 4-3 while the Bulldogs posted a 5-3 win over No. 5 South Carolina.