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Staten Island, NY - Wagner's ninth-inning rally fell painfully short to St. John's in a 5-4 setback in non conference action at Richmond County Bank Ballpark. In defeat, the Seahawks fall to 11-18 while the Red Storm improves to 16-12.

Down 5-1 in the top of the ninth inning, freshman Jason Gordon (Baltimore, MD / Archbishop Curley) drew a one-out walk, before moving to second on a wild pitch. One out later, junior Jayson Keel (Starkville, MS / Starkville / Holmes CC) smacked a single to right field on the first pitch he saw from reliever RHP Matt Carasiti, while pushing Gordon to third. After Keel moved to second on a wild pitch, the pair came around to score on a fielding error by the SJU third baseman. WIth the score now 5-3, St. John's again went to the bullpen, summoning closer RHP James Lomangino. Junior Chris Smith (Tampa, FL / Freedom / Ellsworth CC) greeted Lomangino with a run-scoring triple over the center fielder's head, scoring pinch runner Cliff Brantley (Staten Island, NY / Port Richmond) while slicing the deficit to 5-4. However, that would be as close as the Green & White would get as junior Nick Alfano's (Coral Springs, FL / North Broward Prep) drive was hauled in by the Red Storm right fielder.

Gordon was the first baserunner to reach safely since the bottom of the third, as SJU starter RHP Brendan Lobban retired 17-of-18 - including 14-straight at one point. For the game Lobban (3-2), who earned the win, yielded one earned run one four hits and two walks with five strikeouts over 8.2 innings. Lomangino stranded Smith at third for his fifth save of the season.

Junior RHP Nick Pavia (Staten Island, NY / St. Joseph By The Sea) was solid on the mound, striking out four, against just one walk, while allowing three runs on eight hits over 5.2 innings in falling to 1-3.

Wagner opened the scoring with a single run in the bottom of the first inning. Freshman Nick Dini (Monroe Township, NJ / Monroe Township) crushed the first pitch in the bottom of the third inning with his conference-leading fourth triple of the year to right field, which also extended his hitting streak to a career-best nine games. Keel followed with a run-scoring ground out, driving in Dini while collecting his team-leading 21st RBI.

St. John's immediately responded with a pair of runs in the top of the third inning. Danny Bethea led off with a single, before scoring all the way from first on Martin Kelly's double to the right-center gap. Kelly was then bunted over to third, before scoring on Matt Wessinger's sacrifice fly to center.

The Seahawks would threaten in the bottom of the third with a two-out rally. Graduate student Bill Murphy (Cranford, NJ / Roselle Catholic / Rutgers) drew a one-out walk, before senior Eddie Brown (Edison, NJ / St. Joseph's (Metuchen) / Seton Hall) doubled down the right field line. However, on the play the ball bounced into the stands thus nullifying what would have been a near-certain run as Murphy was forced to stay at third.  Lobban quelled the threat with an inning-ending strikeout as the Green & White would have just one more runner until the ninth inning.

SJU added to the lead in the top of the fourth inning on Sean O'Hare's RBI single to right field, before making it 5-1 with two more tallies in the top of the seventh inning.

In defeat, Wagner pitching was outstanding as Pavia, Ryan Carmon (Fr., Belle Mead, NJ / Montgomery), Max Schmardel (Fr., Eatontown, NJ / Monmouth Regional) and Connor Smith (West Caldwell, NJ / James Caldwell) combined to strike out five while walking just one in limiting the preseason Top-15 Red Storm to just five runs. Additionally, the first four St. John's hitters went just 3-for-16.

The Seahawks return to action on Thursday, April 5 with a 3:00 pm game at Fairleigh Dickinson.