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Hamden, CT - Junior LHP Matt Morris (Matawan, NJ / St. John Vianney) struck out seven and did not walk a batter in leading Wagner to a 3-1 victory over Quinnipiac in game one of today's doubleheader at the QU Baseball Field. With the win, the Seahawks improve to 17-23 and 10-8 in the Northeast Conference (NEC) while the Bobcats fall to 10-27 and 5-13 in the league.

Morris (3-3) allowed just one unearned run on three hits over a career-best 7.0 innings of work en route to notching his first career complete game victory.

Wagner struck quickly for a pair of first-inning runs. Junior Chris Smith (Tampa, FL / Freedom / Ellsworth CC (IA)) drew a one-out walk, before moving to third on sophomore Nick Dini's (Monroe Township, NJ / Monroe Township) single to right center. Graduate student Chase Gray (Toms River, NJ / Toms River South / Seton Hall) then crushed a double to left field on the first pitch he saw, plating Smith while moving Dini to third. Freshman Ben Ruta (West Windsor, NJ / West-Windsor Plainsboro South) capped the scoring with a RBI ground out to second, plating Dini in the process.

Morris meanwhile was cruising on the mound, retiring the first six Quinnipiac hitters he faced, before running into trouble in the third. Brian Ruditys reached on an error to lead off the inning, before later coming around to score on Mike Palladino's two-out, infield single. However, Morris would evade further trouble when Palladino was thrown out trying to steal second by Dini.

The Seahawks got that run back in the top of the fifth inning. Senior Jayson Keel (Starkville, MS / Starkville / Holmes CC) led off with a double, before coming around to score later in the frame.

Morris would then retire the side in order in the sixth inning, before working around a one-out single in the seventh en route to notching his second complete game of the year. Morris has now not allowed an earned run over his last 17.2 innings and has  22 strikeouts with a 1.14 ERA over 23.2 innings during league play.

Dini went 2-for-3 with a run while Gray was 1-for-3 with a double and a RBI while extending his hitting streak to 15 games to lead the six-hit Green & White attack.

QU RHP Spencer Kane (2-4) was saddled with the loss, striking out five while yielding three runs on six hits and a walk over 7.0 innings in a complete game effort.

Chris Migani notched two of the three Quinnipiac hits to pace the offense.

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Photography by Dave Saffran