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Teaneck, NJ - Senior RHP Ryan Van Spronsen (Brantford, Ontario / Assumption College) complete game, eight-strikeout effort led Wagner to a 3-1 victory over Fairleigh Dickinson in the first game of the teams' four-game series at the Naimoli Complex.

In victory, the Seahawks improve to 12-18 and 8-5 in the Northeast Conference (NEC) while the Knights fall to 11-14-1 and 7-6 in the league.

Van Spronsen, who has gone at least eight innings in each of his last six starts, picked up his NEC-leading fourth complete game of the year while improving to 4-1 on the season. The Canadian native allowed just one run on seven hits and a pair of walks.

Sophomore Ian Miller (Downingtown, NJ / Bishop Shanahan) led off the game with a single before moving to second on a ground out. Miller then stole third on the throw back to the pitcher, before scoring on an errant throw to the base.

In the top of the second inning, freshman Nick Dini (Monroe Township, NJ / Monroe Township) extended his hitting streak to 10 games with a leadoff double down the right field line. Dini advanced to third on Jayson Keel's (Starkville, MS / Starkville / Holmes CC) sacrifice bunt, but would be left stranded in scoring position as FDU RHP Craig Warner struck out the next two batters.

Fairleigh Dickinson put together a two-out rally in the bottom part of the frame, loading up the bases only to turned away when Van Spronsen got Shane Siebler swinging for the final out of the inning.

Wagner added to the lead with a single tally in the top of the fourth inning. Senior Tommy Higgins (Port Monmouth, NJ / Red Bank Catholic) plated Keel with a two-out, run-scoring double to left field to extend the lead out to 2-0. 

The Knights would threaten in each of the next three frames, only to come up short each time thanks to Van Spronsen's pitching and a solid defense that turned one double play while picking off a runner on the bases.
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Wagner added to the lead with a two-out run in the top of the seventh inning. Sophomore Cliff Brantley (Staten Island, NY / Port Richmond) got the rally started by reaching on an infield single. Junior Nick Alfano (Coral Springs, FL / North Broward Prep) then worked the count full, before drawing the first Seahawk walk of the game. Miller followed with a single to center field, plating Brantley to make it 3-0.

Pitching with the extra cushion, Van Spronsen set down the side in order in the bottom of the seventh, before running into trouble in the seventh. After Ryan Kresky put FDU on the board with a two-out RBI double to right field, Van Spronsen induced Eric Anderson, Fairleigh Dickinson's leading hitter at .395 entering the game, into a routine fly out to right for the final out of the frame.

Van Spronsen then wrapped his outstanding performance with a 1-2-3 ninth inning, capped by a strikeout of Riley Moonan.

Miller led the way on offense, going 2-for-4 with a run, RBI and stolen base while notching his team-best eighth multi-hit game of the year.

FDU, which could extrapolate just one run off of seven hits, was led by Kresky, who recorded three of the seven Knight hits.

Warner (1-2) was the tough-luck losing pitcher, striking out a career-high six while yielding three runs on six hits and a walk over 9.0 innings of work.

Notes:
* Van Spronsen improves to 2-0 with a 1.61 ERA over 28.0 career innings against FDU and has recorded 16 strikeouts, against just three walks, during that time. He also moved past Boston Red Sox reliever and 2006 graduate Andrew Bailey into seventh place in the all-time Wagner annals with 219.2 innings pitched.

* Van Spronsen's first career win over Fairleigh Dickinson came by the same 3-1 score back on April 9, 2010.

* Dini has hit safely in 10-straight and 16-of-17 while recording at least one hit in all 13 conference games.

* Higgins' RBI double gives him 152 hits for his career while moving him into a tie with Kane Furst and Bryan Distefano for 16th place on the all-time hits' list.

* Murphy has now reached base in eight-straight games and in 22-of-24.

* The Seahawks are now 18-6 against FDU since the 2006 season.

* Wagner matched last season's road win total of seven with the victory.

* The Seahawks have outscored the opposition by a 13-4 count in the first inning over the last 16 games.

* Four of Wagner's six hits and two of its three runs came with two outs.

* Miller picked up his NEC-leading 14th stolen base of the season in the first inning.

* The teams will continue play tomorrow with a 1:00 pm doubleheader.