BOX SCORE

Staten Island, NY - Senior Vin Avella (Matawan, NJ / CBA) homered and drove in three runs while freshman RHP Christian Rautenstrauch (Charlotte, NC / Providence Day) fired 5.2 innings of three-run ball in lifting Wagner to a hard-fought 5-3 game-two victory over Sacred Heart, salvaging a doubleheader split at Richmond County Bank Ballpark. The Seahawks, who lost the first game 5-2, improve to 19-25 and 12-11 in the Northeast Conference (NEC) while the Pioneers fall to 23-22 and 14-9 in the NEC.

Avella went deep for the third-straight game while going 2-for-3 with two runs. Junior Kevin McDonnell (Bristol, CT / Avon Old Farms) also went 2-for-3 with a pair of doubles and a RBI, as the Green & White recorded eight hits.

On the weekend, Avella is batting a team-best .556 (5-9) with three home runs, six RBI and five runs. He also retook the NEC home run lead at 14 and has a career-best 49 RBI, just seven off of Mike Cerminaro's school-record total of 56 set in 2000.

Sacred Heart struck for a run in the first inning before Wagner roared back with a pair of runs in the bottom of the second inning. Avella led off with a singled and advanced to third on junior Brian Martutartus' (Carlsbad, CA / La Costa Canyon) single to center field before scoring when the ball got past the centerfielder. McDonnell followed with a RBI double to left center, giving the Seahawks a 2-1 lead.

The Green & White plated three more runs the next time at bat. Freshman Nick Alfano (Coral Springs, FL / North Broward Prep) led off with a double to right field. Following a sacrifice bunt, junior Jared Gruccio (Landisville, NJ / Buena Regional) drew a four-pitch walk. After LHP Corey Corcoran induced a pop up for the second out, Avella crushed a home run to deep right-center, driving in Alfano and Gruccio while giving the Seahawks a 5-1 lead they would not relinquish.

The Pioneers got a run back in the top of the fifth inning on Steve Tedesco's RBI single, plating MJ Schifano.

Sacred Heart cut the lead to 5-3 in the top of the sixth inning while chasing Rautenstrauch. Rob Griffith led off with a single. Following a pop out, he advanced to third on a JJ Edwards single before scoring on a Hunter Phillip ground out. On the play, pinch-runner Jonathan Servilla, who had stolen second base on the previous play, advanced to third prompting Wagner to go to the bullpen. Junior LHP David Rees (Staten Island, NY / Xavier) entered and following a walk, induced the final out of the frame before hurling a perfect seventh inning for his third save of the year.

Rautenstrauch improved to a team-best 4-1 on the year while not facing any more than five batters in any one inning all night. He struck out two while allowing just three runs, two earned, on six hits and one walk over 5.2 frames.

Tedesco paced the Pioneers, going 2-for-4 while Corcoran (1-6) assumed the loss, yielding all five runs on eight hits and a pair of walk over 6.0 innings.

Sacred Heart did not notch an extra-base hit in either one game of the doubleheader after rapping out six in Friday's first game. The Pioneers were also 1-for-10 with runners in scoring position in the night-cap while stranding seven runners.

Senior Damian Csakai (Freehold Township, NJ / Freehold Township) had a quiet game but did steal his 37th base following a lead-off single in the fifth inning, matching his single-season record set a year ago. He is also just five swipes off of Kyle Messineo's NEC record of 42 set in 2007.

The teams will conclude their four-game series tomorrow with a 12:00 pm game. Troy Scribner is slated to pitch for Sacred Heart with Jon Lucas (Jr., Hackettstown, NJ / Hackettstown) expected to get the ball for Wagner.