BOX SCORE

Staten Island, NY – After playing a pair of close games yesterday, the Wagner Seahawks left nothing to chance today with a dominating 17-6 victory over Mount St. Mary's while picking up their 20th win of the season for the second-straight year and the seventh time in program history, five of which have come during the Joe Litterio regime.

With the win, the Green & White improve to 20-16 and 9-7 in the Northeast Conference (NEC) while the Mountaineers fall to 18-20 and 10-6 in the NEC.

Despite picking up their first series win of the year, the Green & White currently sit in a tie for fourth place with Monmouth as just 1.5 games separate the top five teams.

After recording just two extra-base hits yesterday, Wagner rapped out five doubles, one triple and two home runs among the Seahawks' 17 hits.

Junior Vin Avella (Matawan, NJ / CBA) hit his NEC-leading 12th home run while tying Joe Murphy's single-season record of 12 set in 1984. On the day, the power-hitting first baseman was 3-6 with three runs and two RBI. Sophomore Matt Logan (Wall, NJ / Wall) also went deep, recording his fourth home run of the year, a mammoth two-run blast over the left-field fence, while also adding a RBI double.

Junior Damian Csakai (Freehold, NJ / Freehold) was 3-5 with three runs while classmate Joe Conforti (Staten Island, NY / Farrell) also was 3-5 with two runs and two RBI. Rounding out the multiple-hit performers for the Green & White was sophomore Jared Gruccio (Landisville, NJ / Buena Regional) (2-3; 3 runs; 3 RBI) and classmate Seth Boyd (Perth Amboy, NJ / Perth Amboy) (2-4; 2 runs; 2 RBI).

On the mound, junior RHP Kyle Morrison (Middlesex, NJ / Immaculata) collected the win while improving to 6-2 on the season. The hard-throwing right-hander retired the first 10 batters he faced while yielding just three runs, two earned, on six hits with four strikeouts and did not walk a batter.

Wagner started quickly, loading the bases with no outs in the bottom of the first. Csakai led off with a single before sophomore Gruccio was hit by a pitch. Avella loaded the bases with a bloop hit to left field. Boyd continued his hot hitting with a two-run single to left field, bringing around Csakai and Gruccio. Senior Chris Drechsel (Cranford, NJ / Cranford) extended the lead out to 3-0 with a sacrifice fly to center field. Logan capped the scoring with a two-out double to left center, plating Boyd.

The Seahawks then put the game away with seven runs on just three hits in the bottom of the second inning. Wagner sent 11 men to the plate while chasing Mount St. Mary's starter Kent Worthington. With one out, Csakai walked before Gruccio was hit by a pitch and Avella followed with a three-run home run, pushing the lead out to 7-0. Boyd then walked on four pitches and Drechsel doubled him over to third. Boyd came home on an error by the pitcher and Drechsel scored on a wild pitch. After Brian Martutartus (Carlsbad, CA / La Costa Canyon) was hit by an errant pitch, Conforti capped the scoring with a two-run triple to center field, pushing the lead out to 11-0 while for all intents and purposes eliminating any chance the Mountaineers had for a comeback.

In defeat, Jacob Darr was 2-4 with his fourth home run and four RBI while Shane Elyer matched Avella with his 12th home run of the year.

Worthington (2-6) was the pitcher of record for Mount St. Mary's, yielding nine runs on six hits over 1.1 innings.

Wagner hosts Iona on Wednesday, April 29 at 7:00 pm.