BOX SCORE

Staten Island, NY - Wagner won its first series from Monmouth since 2006 with a 7-5 come-from-behind win in the series-finale at Richmond County Bank Ballpark. Senior Damian Csakai (Freehold Township, NJ / Freehold Township) rapped out four hits to lead the offense while freshman Christian Rautenstrauch (Charlotte, NC / Providence Day) hurled 4.0 scoreless innings of relief in picking up the win.

After dropping the first game of the series by a 5-3 count, the Green & White swept yesterday's doubleheader by scores of 5-2 and 5-3 before taking the series with today's victory. Wagner is now 16-14 and sits in first place all by itself at 11-5, a game and a half in front of Bryant and two full games ahead of Central Connecticut State and Mount St. Mary's.

Monmouth was in control in the game's early going, scoring scoring the first four runs.

The Seahawks' bats then awoke in the bottom of the third inning, plating four runs on five hits while sending eight men to the plate. With one out, Csakai led off with a single before advancing to second on a Tommy Higgins (So., Port Monmouth, NJ / Red Bank Catholic) single. Junior Kevin McDonnell (Bristol, CT / Avon Old Farms) cut it to 4-1 with a run-scoring single, plating Csakai. Following a pop out, junior Brian Martutartus (Carlsbad, CA / La Costa Canyon) doubled to left field, plating Higgins and McDonnell. Classmate Seth Boyd (Perth Amboy, NJ / Perth Amboy) tied the game up at 4-4 with a RBI-triple to right field, scoring Martutartus on the play.

Wagner then took the lead in the bottom of the fourth inning when Csakai scored a two-out run on an error by the Hawk second baseman.

The Seahawks added to the lead in the bottom of the fifth with a pair of runs. Senior Vin Avella (Matawan, NJ / CBA) led off with a double to left field. Martutartus then stroked a 0-2 pitch up the middle, plating Avella. Following a fly out, Martutartus stole second and after the second out of the frame, scored on Jon Lucas' RBI single through the left side, pushing the lead out to an insurmountable 7-4.

On the day, the Green & White scored six of its seven runs with two outs, using 14 hits at the plate after recording just 16 in the first three games of the weekend series.

Rautenstrauch entered with the game tied in the top of the fourth inning and did his job, yielding just one hit and two walks with two strikeouts over 4.0 scoreless innings while improving to 3-0 on the season.

Monmouth would get to within two at 7-5 in the top of the eighth inning on Owen Stewart's pinch-hit RBI single with two outs. On the play Stewart advanced to second and Nick Pulsonetti third. Bobby Dombrowksi then hit a grounder to third that was initially mishandled before junior Matt Logan (Wall, NJ / Wall) recovered to get the Hawk catcher by a step at first base.

Junior Ian Karlsson (Brooklyn, NY / Xaverian) entered in the ninth inning and kept the Hawks at bay for his NEC-leading sixth save of the year and the third of the week.

Csakai went 4-for-5 with two runs, two stolen bases and a double while Martutartus was a perfect 3-for-3 with three RBI, two runs, a double and a walk. Boyd's also recorded a pair of hits while extending his hitting streak to a team-best matching 13 games.

Rosenkranz and Terry each notched two hits to lead a nine-hit Monmouth offense. LHP Dan Smith fell to 1-3 with the loss, yielding all seven runs, six earned, on 11 hits over 5.0 innings.

The Green & White head to Saint Peter's on Tuesday, April 20 for a 3:30 pm contest before heading out to San Diego State next weekend for four-game series (4/23-4/25) against Hall of Famer Tony Gwynn's Aztecs.

NOTES: Wagner has now won seven of its nine NEC four-game sets at home since moving to Richmond County Bank Ballpark while avenging its lone series-loss to Monmouth in 2008 ... The Seahawks split a four-game set with Central Connecticut State in 2009 ... The Green & White won all three games this weekend by three runs or less and are 13-4 in such affairs with the Hawks since 2004 ... The senior class improves to 8-9 against Monmouth ... On the season, Wagner is 12-5 in games decided by three runs or less, including 7-1 at home ...The Seahawks are 8-1 at home, including 7-1 during NEC-games ... Remarkably, eight of those nine games have been decided by three runs or less (7-1) ... Since 2008, Wagner is 41-14 (39-14 in Staten Island) in home games. including 28-8 in NEC games ... Additionally, the Green & White are 25-6 in games decided by three runs or less at home, including 20-4 during conference-play ... During NEC-play the duo of Karlsson and junior David Rees (Staten Island, NY / Xavier) have combined for six saves and 13 strikeouts while allowing just two earned runs (1.31 ERA) ... Csakai's four-hit game is his first of the year after failing to record a hit in back-to-back games for just the second time all year ... He has reached base safely in all but three games and is now third in school history with 207 hits ... Former minor leaguers Joey DiGeronimo (219 hits) and Mike Cerminaro (214 hits) are the only Seahawks with more hits then Csakai ... The speedy centerfielder also has a NEC-leading 25 stolen bases, 12 off his school-record total of 37 set last year ... Former Monmouth outfielder Kyle Messineo holds the NEC record with 42 set in 2007 ... Csakai has now played in 185 career games, one behind DiGeronimo for third place and eight off Chris Drechsel's school-record total of 193 ... Csakai will also most likely break the record for at-bats and holds the career marks for runs, stolen bases and hit-by-pitches while also ranking among the top-10 in walks ... Rautenstrauch's three wins tie him for the team lead ... Over his last three games (vs. St. John's, @ Seton Hall, vs. Monmouth) he is 3-0 with a 2.45 ERA and 12 strikeouts while holding batters to a .241 average over 14.2 innings of work ... The Green & White have four more conference tilts remaining at Bryant, vs. Sacred Heart, at CCSU and vs. Quinnipiac.