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Staten Island, NY - Junior Mark Holmes (Manalapan, NY / Manalapan) hurled his first career complete game while the Wagner defense turned a season-high five double plays en route to a 4-3 victory over Bryant in the first of four games at Richmond County Bank Ballpark. The Seahawks improve to 9-16 and 7-6 in the Northeast Conference (NEC) while avenging last year's four-game sweep to the Bulldogs, who fall to 11-14 and 3-6 in the NEC.

Bryant, which outhit Wagner 11-9, was done in by timely Seahawk hitting and poor base running as the Bulldogs flew into two double plays and had one other runner gunned out via an outfield assist.

Senior Jon Lucas (Hackettstown, NJ / Hackettstown) was the offensive star, going 2-for-2 with two doubles, a RBI, walk and sacrifice bunt.

In the top of the first inning, Dan Muscatello led off with a bloop single before Jordan English followed with a sharp single through the ride side. On the play, Muscatello tried to take third and was thrown out on a strike from senior Kevin McDonnell (Bristol, CT / Avon Old Farms), who led the nation in outfield assists a year ago. On the ensuing play, Kevin Brown, last year's NEC Rookie of the Year, hit a missle that McDonnell was able to corrall before doubling up English at first base while setting the tone for the day.

With two outs in the bottom part of the frame, McDonnell crushed this double to left field. He then came around to score on this Lucas double to left field, giving Wagner the early 1-0 lead.

After an unevenful second inning, Bryant mounted its first threat of the day in the top of the third inning. Tim Norton led off with a double before advancing to third when Joseph Carcone reach via an error. Holmes then buckled down, forcing a lazy pop up to the shortstop before inducing a 4-6-3 inning-ending double play.

The Seahawks added to the lead with a pair of runs on just one hit in the bottom of the sixth inning. Senior Seth Boyd (Perth Amboy, NJ / Perth Amboy) and McDonnell opened the frame with walks. Lucas then moved the pair to second-and-third with this sacrifice bunt. Junior Tommy Higgins (Port Monmouth, NJ / Red Bank Catholic) made it 2-0 when his grounder was booted by the third baseman, allowing Boyd to score. Following a strikeout, junior Hayden Hunter (Santa Monica, CA / Notre Dame) scored McDonnell on this infield single.

Bryant responded with a Jamie Skagerlind home run in the top of the seventh inning, drawing the Bulldogs to within two at 3-1.

Wagner then plated an insurance run while knocking out RHP Peter Kelich in the top of the seventh inning. Junior Eddie Brown (Edison, NJ / St. Joseph's (Metuchen)) collected his second hit of the game with a one-out single to right field. Boyd then greeted reliever Jonathan Cohen with a double to deep left center, plating Brown while giving the Seahawks an insurmountable 4-1 lead.

Things got interesting in the top of the eighth inning though. Joseph Carcone led off with a bunt single before Muscatello drew a walk. Holmes then struck out English and Brown via the backwards K before loading up the bases with a walk to David Soltis. Mike Delponte then made it 4-3 when he singled sharply through the right side, plating Carcone and Muscatello. On the play, Soltis advanced to third and Delponte second. Following a brief meeting at the mound, Holmes regrouped and induced Skagerlind into an inning-ending grounder to first.

After the Green & White left a runner at third in the bottom part of the frame, Holmes caged the Bulldogs with a 1-2-3 ninth inning, inducing this routine fly out on his 99th pitch of the afternoon.

Holmes (3-3) struck out three while yielding three runs on 11 hits and a pair of walks while Kelich (1-3) allowed four runs (three earned) on seven hits and three walks with six strikeouts over 6.1 innings. 

The teams will resume their series tomorrow with a 1:00 pm doubleheader.

NOTES: McDonnell and Boyd each extended their hitting streaks to 12 games ... Wagner scored in the first inning for the seventh-straight game and led wire-to-wire ... The Seahawks now have posted complete game victories twice in the last three games ... Before that the Green & White had just two complete games over the previous 125 games dating back to early in the 2009 season ... Brown and Lucas were the only Wagner players with multiple-hits ... The game was played in a crisp 2:09 with rain starting to fall midway through ... Eight of the nine Bryant starters had hits, led by Muscatello, who finished 3-for-4 with a run ... Skagerlind's home run down the right field line was the first by any player in Wagner's first nine games at Richmond County Bank Ballpark in 2011 ... Both teams struggled with runners in scoring position with Seahawks going just 2-for-10 (.200) and the Bulldogs 1-for-8 (.125) ... Wagner improves to 3-1 in its NEC series openers while Bryant falls to 0-3 in similar situations ... In the bottom of the third inning, the world-famous Wallenius Wilhelmsen passed by the Stadium ... Click HERE to the see the ship in action.