LIVE STATS FOR ALL FOUR GAMES

Staten Island, NY – Despite losing two-of-three at Sacred Heart over the weekend the Wagner Seahawks (26-19; 13-9 NEC) still control their playoff destiny as the Green & White looks to wrap up a NEC Tournament berth for the second-straight year and the fifth time in the last six seasons. The opponent will be the Fairleigh Dickinson Knights (16-30; 11-13 NEC), who are playing their best baseball of the year after sweeping four games from LIU last weekend while scoring 57 runs off Blackbird pitching.

Wagner currently sits in a tie for third with Mount St. Mary's at 13-9. Monmouth and Sacred Heart are one full game up on both teams at 14-8. Central Connecticut is fifth at 13-10, just 1.5 games off the top spot, while Fairleigh Dickinson, on the strength of their four-game conference winning streak is sixth at 11-13. This weekend, CCSU travels to Monmouth while Sacred Heart heads to Mount St. Mary's.

The Knights are led by senior Matt Maher, who is batting .352 with a team-high 45 runs, eight doubles, two home runs and 29 stolen bases. Last week, Maher collected Akadema NEC Player of the Week honors, batting .600 while becoming both the program's most prolific base stealer (70) and all-time hits leader (199). The Knights' leadoff batter went 15-for-25 on his way to five multiple-hit performances with eight runs, and eight RBI. Over his last 10 games, Maher has gone 26-for-44 (.590) with 13 RBI, 12 runs and 10 stolen bases while raising his average from .263 to .352.

Junior first baseman Zachary Sand leads FDU in hitting at .385 with team-highs in doubles (14), triples (3), home runs (5), RBI (38) and OBP (.470). Sophomore outfielder Brian Dillon is next at .365 with a team-best 61 hits with 35 runs, eight doubles, three triples, five home runs and 37 RBI. Freshman second baseman Matt Holsman is batting .324 with 57 hits, 27 runs and a .375 OBP while classmate Mike Eliasen is hitting .301 with 21 runs and 18 RBI, rounding out the Knights hit above .300. Eliasen captured Akadema Rookie of the Week honors last week after batting .476 last week while extending his hitting streak to 11 games.

Junior RHP Nicholas Melchiorre is the squad's top pitcher having gone 2-7 with a team-high 42 strikeouts and a 4.60 ERA over a team-best 58.2 innings of work. However, over his career against the Green & White he is 0-2 with a 14.08 ERA in 7.2 innings of work. Senior LHP John Meadus is the No. 2 pitcher, having gone 2-5 with 40 strikeouts and a 7.00 ERA over 54.0 innings. Last weekend, Meadus struck out eight while scattering four wins over 7.0 innings against LIU. Last year he threw a complete game two-hit shutout against Wagner while striking out six. Melchiorre will work game one on Saturday with Meadus slated for game two.

Rounding out the rotation is Friday starter freshman RHP Michael Strachman and Sunday starter freshman RHP Jonathan Scott. Strachman is 3-1 with 22 strikeouts and a a 5.91 ERA while winning each of his last two NEC starts, against CCSU and LIU, respectively. Scott is 1-3 with 17 strikeouts and a 9.79 ERA over 30.1 innings.

Wagner has led on the mound by junior Matt Watson (Howell, NJ / Howell) who has produced arguably the top pitching season by any Seahawk hurler in recent memory. The crafty right-hander is a NEC-best 8-1 with one save, a 2.58 ERA and 25 strikeouts over 52.1 innings of work. During NEC-play, he has been even better going a perfect 6-0 with 18 strikeouts and a 2.25 ERA over 36.0 innings. His eight wins are the most by a Seahawk pitcher since James Murphy recorded eight in 1981, a span of 28 years, and are just two off Bill Willets' school-record total of 10 set in 1948. For his career, he has 14 victories to match current Oakland Athletic Andrew Bailey for sixth on the all-time wins list.

Watson is slated to go in the first game this weekend with junior Kyle Morrison (Middlesex, NJ / Immaculata) and sophomore Jack Rice (Middlesex, NJ / Immaculata) set to go in Saturday's doubleheader. A game four starter has not yet been set.

Senior Andrew Huebner (Hatfield, PA / North Penn) has anchored the bullpen, going a perfect 10-for-10 in save opportunities and is now just one stop away from matching his own single-season mark of 11 set in 2008. The Keystone State native also holds the career record with 22 and counting.

Sophomore Jared Gruccio (Landisville, NJ / Buena Regional) recorded his team-best 18th multi-hit game of the year against NYIT and is hitting a team-best .411. With a solid finish to this year, he will become the first Seahawk since Mike Cerminaro in 2000 to bat above .400.

Senior Chris Drechsel (Cranford, NJ / Cranford) has been on a tear of late, hitting a team-best .529 (9-17) with seven runs, five RBI and two doubles over the last five games. Drechsel has his average up to .331, including .333 during NEC-play, with 35 runs, nine doubles, two home runs and 21 RBI – all of which are career-bests.

Sophomore Brian Martutartus (Carlsbad, CA / La Costa Canyon) (.336, 13 doubles), junior Damian Csakai (Freehold Township, NJ / Freehold Township) (.322, 33 stolen bases), sophomore Jon Lucas (Hackettstown, NJ / Hackettstown) (.321, 27 RBI), sophomore Seth Boyd (Perth Amboy, NJ / Perth Amboy) (.318, 11 doubles, 30 RBI) and junior Vin Avella (Matawan, NJ / CBA) (.303, 15 HR, 45 RBI, 12 doubles) are all also batting above .300.

The teams will play a single nine-inning game on Friday at 3:00 pm before playing a Noon doubleheader on Saturday. The series will conclude with a single nine-inning game on Sunday at 1:00 pm.

NOTES:
• Head coach Joe Litterio is 15-14 all-time against Fairleigh Dickinson and 7-6 at home. Over the last three years, the Seahawks have had the Knights' number winning seven-of-nine, including sweeps in 2006 and 2007. Last year the teams split four games in Teaneck.
• With two more wins, the Green & White will set a school-record for wins (28), having won 27 a year ago. Wagner is also assured of their second-straight winning regular season and its first winning record since 1990.
• The Seahawks finished up the regular season with a 13-12 record in road games, marking the first time in Litterio's 10 years that his squad posted a winning record away from home.
• Wagner has 15 of its 22 NEC games decided by two runs or less, going 9-6 in that sample.
• The Green & White lost just their first conference series last weekend at Sacred Heart, as the Pioneers won two one-run games after Wagner captured the first meeting 5-3.
• Maher is batting .357 (10-28) over his career against Seahawk pitching.
• Fairleigh Dickinson has not reached the NEC Tournament since 1999.
• With his next stolen base Csakai will break the single-season record of 33 co-held by him and Joe Francisco. With three more stolen bases, Csakai will match Francisco's career-mark of 90.
• Avella needs just one home run to move into first place on the all-time career home run list, as he currently shares the record of 32 with Chris Dick. He has had one of the finest individual power season in school history, recording 12 doubles, 15 homes runs (1st in school history), 45 RBI (4th in school history) and 28 walks (10th in school history).
• Martutartus has also had a fine sophomore campaign, ranking second on the squad in hitting (.336) with 13 doubles (8th in school history) while sitting just 10 assists short of Joey DiGeronimo's school-record total of 157 assists set in 2007.
• Drechsel also ranks among the top-10 in school history in career games (186) (2nd), career hits (164) (8th) and walks (60) (t-9th).
• Csakai ranks among the top-10 in career runs (117) (t-3rd) and career hits (162) (9th).
• Avella ranks among the top-10 in career RBI (102) (7th), career doubles (34) (7th) and career hits (152) (t-10th).
• Morrison, like Watson, is tied for sixth place on the all-time wins list (14) with Bailey.