BOX SCORE

Trumbull, CT – Sacred Heart defeated Wagner in walk-off fashion for the second-straight game to sweep today's Northeast Conference (NEC) doubleheader. Hunter Phillips led off the bottom of the ninth inning with his second home run of the game, lifting the Pioneers to a 9-8 come-from-behind victory over the Seahawks. With the win, Sacred Heart improves to 24-23-1 and 14-8 In the NEC while the Green & White fall to 25-19 and 13-9.

In the wacky NEC, just 1.5 games separate first from fifth place with Sacred Heart and Monmouth tied for first place at 14-8. Wagner is tied for third with Mount St. Mary's at 13-9 while Central Connecticut is in fifth at 13-10. On the heels of a four-game sweep of LIU, Fairleigh Dickinson is back in the race at 11-13. Next weekend, the Seahawks host FDU while Sacred Heart is at Mount St. Mary's and Central Connecticut is at Monmouth.

Despite the defeat, junior Vin Avella (Matawan, NJ / CBA) blasted his NEC-leading 15th home run of the year while tying Chris Dick's career record of 32 home runs, set in 2004. Avella's blast gave the Green & White a 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning.

The Pioneers responded immediately with a two-run home run from Tyler Santos, scoring Jeff Hanson, in the bottom of the first inning.

Wagner tied the game up at 2-2 when sophomore Jon Lucas (Hackettstown, NJ / Hackettstown) singled home classmate Brian Martutartus (Carlsbad, CA / La Costa Canyon), who had singled and stolen second.

After a 1-2-3 bottom of the second, the Seahawks batted around while assuming a 6-2 lead. Junior Damian Csakai (Freehold Township, NJ / Freehold Township) led off with a single. After a one-out walk to Avella pushed Csakai to second, the speedy centerfielder scored on senior Chris Drechsel's (Cranford, NJ / Cranford) single through the left side. Sophomore Seth Boyd (Perth Amboy, NJ / Perth Amboy) loaded them up with an infield single. After a force play at the plate, sophomore Joe Jamison (West Caldwell, NJ / James Caldwell) drew a four-pitch walk, forcing in Drechsel. Lucas capped the inning with a two-run single to left field, scoring Boyd and Martutartus.

Sacred Heart got on run back in the bottom of the third only to see Csakai manufacture a run in the top of the fourth off reliever Ryan Lynch. Csakai led off with a walk then stole second. He advanced to third on a ground out before scoring on an Avella sacrifice fly, pushing the lead back out to four at 7-3.

The Pioneers answered by batting around in the bottom of the fourth while scoring five runs to take an 8-7 lead. Phillips hit his first career home run, a three-run shot, while Mike Drowne gave Sacred Heart the lead with a two-run home run.

The Green & White immediately tied the game up at 8-8 on a Martutartus RBI single, scoring Boyd, who led off with a double.

From that point on both bullpens shut down the opposing offenses. Freshman RHP Ryan Van Spronsen (Brantford, Ontario / Assumption College) entered in the bottom of the fourth and retired the first eight batters he faced, including four via strikeout. He allowed his first hit in the bottom of the seventh only to see the runner erased on a double-play grounder.

Lynch was equally impressive, facing the just one over the minimum in his final 4.0 innings of work.

Mike Olysyk entered in the top of the ninth and retired the top of the Wagner line-up in order. Phillips then hit his second home run of the game in the ninth inning, giving Sacred Heart its second-straight one-run victory.

For the Seahawks it was their first series loss of the year and just the second over the last two seasons. Despite the set-back, the Green & White finished the year with a 13-12 road record, marking the first-ever wining road record by a Joe Litterio coached Wagner team.

Van Spronsen (2-2) gave up just that one earned run on two hits while striking out four and not walking a batter over 4.2 excellent innings of relief. Olysyk evened his record at 3-3 with a perfect inning of relief.

Boyd, Lucas and Martutartus all notched two hits for the Seahawks to lead the offense. Lucas also added three RBI while Boyd and Martutartus each scored a pair of runs.

Phillips went 2-4 with two home runs and four RBI to pace the opposition.

Wagner hosts  NYIT in non-conference action at Richmond County Bank Ballpark on Wednesday, May 13 at 7:00 pm.