BOX SCORE

Staten Island, NY - Behind a career-high 7.0 shutout innings from junior Dale Hering (Belle Mead, NJ / Montgomery) Wagner swept its third-straight series from Long Island with a 3-0 game-four victory at Richmond County Bank Ballpark. The Green & White improve to 7-9 and 4-0 in the Northeast Conference (NEC) while the Blackbirds fall to 2-16 and 0-4 in the NEC.

The Wagner senior class improves to a remarkable 14-1 against their Borough-neighbors, including 9-1 in games decided by three runs or less, with its 11th-straight victory against LIU.

Hering fanned four Blackbirds while not walking a batter and allowing just five hits over 7.0 innings, which included three 1-2-3 frames. Junior LHP Jack Rice (MIddlesex, NJ / Immaculata) followed and struck out two over 2.0 innings of one-hit relief for his first save of the year.

LIU threatened first in the top of the third inning as Julian Castro led off for LIU with a single before moving over to second on a sacrifice bunt. Sam Sciamarelli followed with a single up the middle and Castro tried to score from second but was gunned out at the plate by senior Damian Csakai (Freehold Township, NJ / Freehold Township).

In the bottom part of the frame, junior Brian Martutartus (Carlsbad, CA / La Costa Canyon) led off with a line-drive single to center field. After a pair of outs, classmate Jared Gruccio (Landisville, NJ / Buena Regional) singled Martutartus over to third base. Martutartus, however, was picked off on the ensuing play trying to steal home on a failed double steal.

The Blackbirds again threatened in the top of the fourth inning as Albert Faz led off with a double and advanced to third with one out. He was stranded when Hering struck out Tito Marrero before inducing a fly out to end the threat.

The Seahawks finally broke through in the bottom part of the frame. With one out, senior Vin Avella (Matawan, NJ / CBA) stretched what looked to be a single into a double on a crisp hit to right center. Sophomore Tommy Higgins (Port Monmouth, NJ / Red Bank Catholic) battled back from a 0-2 count to lace a RBI single on a 2-2 offering to center field for his second hit of the game while plating Avella and giving Wagner a 1-0 lead.

LIU again threatened in the top of the fifth inning, loading the bases with one out only to have Hering induce an inning-ending double play off the bat of Gerard Tingos. It also marked the third straight inning the Blackbirds failed to score despite having a runner at third base with one out.

The Seahawks added an insurance run in the bottom of the sixth inning. Kevin McDonnell (Bristol, CT / Avon Old Farms) led off with a walk and promptly stole second. After advancing to third an alert McDonnell sprinted home on a wild pitch while narrowly beating the throw back to the plate.

The Green & White plated another run in the bottom of the seventh inning when Csakai doubled down the left field line, plating junior Jon Lucas (Hackettstown, NJ / Hackettstown).

Rice entered in the eighth and worked around runners in each of his two innings to give Wagner its fifth-straight win.

Hering evens his record at 1-1 with the win while LHP Matt McCormick fell to 0-3, striking out four while allowing two runs on five hits and two walks over 6.0 solid innings.

Both teams had six hits with HIggins and LIU freshman Matt Valle each notching two singles. Avella's fourth-inning double also extended his hitting streak to 10 games.

The Seahawks head to Rutgers for a non-league game on Tuesday at 3:30 pm.

NOTES: Wagner was the lone team to sweep a four-game weekend series in the NEC's opening weekend and has now won 19-of-21 against LIU over the last six years ... Head coach Joe Litterio is 25-9 all-time against the Brooklyn school … The Seahawks committed just three errors in four games, compared to 16 over three games against Richmond last weekend ... The Green & White offense also hit .289 (11-38) with runners in scoring position while holding the opposition to a .167 average (5-30) in similar situations ... The Wagner starting pitchers went 4-0 with a 0.99 ERA and 22 strikeouts while walking just three over 27.1 innings of work ... The bullpen was also outstanding, posting a perfect 0.00 ERA with six strikeouts over 4.2 innings ... The Seahawks are now 18-4 in its last six conference-opening match-ups, including 11-1 against the Blackbirds (2007, 2008 & 2010).