LIVE STATS / WAGNER TWITTER

Brooklyn, NY - Fresh off an 11-5 win at Rutgers, the Wagner Seahawks (6-14; 4-4 NEC) return to action with four games this weekend at Long Island. The Blackbirds are enjoying a renaissance in Brooklyn this year, having posted an 11-9 record, including a 3-1 during mark during NEC play.

WHO'S BEEN HOT
Senior Kevin McDonnell (Bristol, CT / Avon Old Farms) went 3-for-5 with four runs and two doubles in the win at Rutgers and is batting a team-best .444 (8-18) with six runs over the last five games. He is also in the midst of a season-best six-game hitting streak and paces the squad in batting (.333), runs (12), doubles (6), RBI (11), slugging (.493) and OBP (.407).

Also stepping up of late has been classmate Joe Conforti (Staten Island, NY / Farrell). Despite seeing his hitting streak end at five games in Piscataway, the Staten Island native has been on fire of late and batted a team-best .583 (7-12) over four games at Central Connecticut State while reaching base at a .667 clip (10-15). Additionally, he has raised his batting average a whopping 68 points to .254 over the last seven games.

BIG-HIT BROWN
Junior Eddie Brown has had trouble cracking the line-up this season, due to an influx of returning starters, but seems to have finally broken out over the weekend. The Seton Hall transfer crushed a 1-0 pitch to left center that scored Conforti while giving the Green & White a hard-fought 1-0 victory over the Blue Devils in the first game of Sunday's doubleheader. He followed that up with a 2-for-5, 2 RBI performance at Rutgers.

HIT PARADE
Wagner has recorded at least 10 hits in eight of its last nine games after previously recording double-figures once in the first 11 games. During its recent hot streak, the Seahawks have seen their team batting average rise from .201 to .268.

REES TO THE RESCUE
Senior David Rees (Staten Island, NY / Xavier) has had a hand in all four Northeast Conference (NEC) victories, going 2-0 with two saves and has pitched in five league games. During NEC play, he has a team-best 0.84 ERA with seven strikeouts, against  two walks, while surrendering just one run 10.2 innings. On the year, Rees has 12 strikeouts over 15.1 innings of work and has been the last Seahawk hurler on the mound in all six victories.

LUCAS LIGHTING IT UP
After getting rocked to the tune of an 0-4 record and a 9.00 ERA over his first four games, senior RHP Jon Lucas (Hackettstown, NJ / Hackettstown) hurled 6.0 scoreless innings with six strikeouts in the first game of Sunday's doubleheader against Mount St. Mary's. Despite taking home a no-decision, Lucas showed the stuff that has him regarded as one of the league's top pitchers.

DID YOU KNOW?
The owner of the other two Wagner victories during NEC play has been senior Dale Hering (Belle Mead, NJ / Montgomery). The fifth-year senior and Rutgers transfer has struck out 11 over 9.1 innings of work during NEC-play en route to an impressive 2-0 record. Hering also was impressive in yielding just three hits and two runs over 6.0 innings against a high-octane UCF club that is currently 19-6 and ranked 23rd in the nation.

BIG EAST BURNER
Sophomore RHP Christian Rautenstrauch (Charlotte, NC / Providence Day) improved to 3-0 in his career against the BIG EAST after spinning 4.0 innings of one-run ball in the 11-5 victory over Rutgers. For his career, he has a 3.07 ERA with 13 strikeouts over 14.2 innings of work against the aforementioned Scarlet Knights, Seton Hall and St. John's.

WHAT'S GOING ON HERE?
This weekend's weather forecast calls for high temperatures between 48 and 52 degrees from Friday to Sunday. Last weekend's games were played in temperatures of 40 degrees or lower.

THE OPPONENT
Long Island enters this weekend's games with an 11-9 record and with three more victories will match last year's win total. The Blackbirds are an extremely balanced team, hitting .294 while posting a 5.85 ERA as the Brooklyn-based institution has won 11 of its last 16 games after dropping four games to George Mason in its season-opening set.

SCOUTING THE BLACKBIRDS
Leading the LIU revival has been two-time NEC Player of the Week junior catcher Tyler Jones. Last week's Akadema Player of the Week, Jones has hit safely in 18-of-20 games en route to a league-best .479 average (35-73) with 18 runs, five doubles, three triples and 16 RBI while posting a ridiculous .562 OBP and .630 slugging percentage.

Freshman Pete Leonello checks in next with a.357 average (25-70) while recording 17 runs, six doubles and five stolen bases. While the Blackbirds don't have any other regulars batting above .300, they had do have four batting between .286 and .297. Junior Drew Walsh, a Staten Island native, is the team's top power threat with six doubles, one triple, one home run and a team-leading 18 RBI.

On the mound, LIU has enjoyed solid starting pitching from a trio of sophomores and a fifth-year senior. Sophomore RHP Justin Topa has a team-best 29 strikeouts, against just eight walks, while posting a 3.13 ERA and a 3-3 record over 31.2 innings of work and Is expected to start game three.

Fifth-year LHP Adam Sauter is expected to get the ball in the series opener and has a 2-2 record with a 5.13 ERA over 26.1 innings of work.

Sophomore LHP Matt McCormick is expected to start game two and is 1-1 with 12 strikeouts over 21.1 innings of work. Last week at Sacred Heart, he scattered just six hits over a complete-game 7.0 inning shutout.

Expected to get the ball in the series finale is sophomore Brad Reimer, the team's lone right-handed starter. He is 1-1 with a 5.06 ERA over 21.1 innings.

HOPING HISTORY REPEATS ITSELF
The Blackbirds boast three starting pitchers of the left-handed variety and that could be a good thing for Wagner as the Seahawks hit .500 (11-22) against Southpaws a week ago against CCSU.

LAST YEAR
Wagner won all four games a year ago despite scoring just 16 runs. The Seahawks won three of the games by three runs or less after taking the first game by a 6-1 count. All five returning pitchers that saw action against LIU (Hering, Lucas, Rees, Rice, Van Spronsen) hurled a combined 26.0 frames, yielding just one unearned run (0.00 ERA) on 15 hits and five walks while striking out 23.

McDonnell hit .308 (4-13) at the plate against the Blackbirds a year ago and is a career .306 hitter (11-36) against LIU with 10 runs, seven RBI, four stolen bases and eight walks.

HAPPY RETURNS
Senior Seth Boyd (Perth Amboy, NJ / Perth Amboy) missed last year's series against Long Island due to an ankle injury but hit a blistering .400 (4-10) with two home runs, four RBI and three runs in leading the Seahawks to a three-game sweep in the teams' last match-up in Brooklyn in 2009.

DID YOU KNOW
All four projected Wagner starting pitchers (Holmes, Hering, Lucas, Van Spronsen) have career ERAs of less than 1.80 against LIU, including a 0.00 mark by Hering, Lucas and Van Spronsen.

OTHER TIDBITS
Sophomore RHP Evan Zerff leads the NEC with seven saves and has 12 strikeouts and a 1.38 ERA over 12.0 innings of work … McCormick and Topa were each tough-luck losers a year ago against Wagner, surrendering just two runs apiece over 6.0 innings of work … Walsh, a Curtis High School alum, hit .429 (3-7) against Seahawk pitching in 2009 with two doubles, three walks and two stolen bases before going hitless in 13 at-bats against the Seahawks a year ago.

QUICK HITS
Andrew Bailey will begin the season on the disabled list for the Oakland A's and had a light throwing session yesterday.

Kyle Morrison and Joe Testa are each at Washington Nationals camp. Morrison, who struck out 11 over 8.0 scoreless innings during Spring Training will begin the year at High-A Potomac of the Carolina League while Testa, who was converted to sidearm, will continue to work on his motion at extended spring training.

Both teams enter this weekend coming off impressive victories over BIG EAST competition as LIU bested St. John's 5-3.

Next weekend, Wagner will host defending NEC Regular Season Champion Bryant at Richmond County Bank Ballpark.