Box Score / Box Score (PDF)
Newark, NJ - Sophomore
Nick Dini (Monroe Township, NJ / Monroe Township) homered and drove in five runs to lift Wagner to a 12-9 victory over NJIT in non-conference action at Riverfront Stadium.
With their fifth-straight win, the Seahawks improve to 20-23 while the Highlanders fall to 14-25.
In the early going it looked as though the game would be a pitchers' duel as the Green & White stranded runners on the bases in each of its first three times at bat while freshman RHP
Ryan Spahr (Oceanport, NJ / Red Bank Catholic) retired the first six batters he faced.
NJIT broke through first, opening the scoring with a pair of runs in the bottom of the third inning on Teddy Bickert's RBI double and Matt Weckerle's RBI single.
Wagner immediately answered with seven runs in the top of the fourth inning while sending 10 batters to the plate. Graduate student
Chase Gray (Toms River, NJ / Toms River South / Seton Hall) led off with his second-straight walk, before freshman
Ben Ruta (West Windsor, NJ / West-Windsor Plainsboro South) poked a 0-2 pitch to left field for a base hit. After the pair moved to second-and-third on a
Shaun Flynn (Jr., Tabernacle, NJ / Seneca / Burlington CC) sacrifice bunt, sophomore
Tommy Mazurkiewicz (Neshanic Station, NJ / Somerville) drove in both runners in with a two-run single to center. Mazurkiewicz then stole second, before senior
Jayson Keel (Starkville, MS / Starkville / Holmes CC) was plunked. The pair then executed a double steal with Mazurkiewicz coming home on the play when the throw down got past the third baseman. Later in the frame, junior
Ian Miller plated Keel with a RBI single up the middle. Then following a
Chris Smith (Jr., Tampa, FL / Freedom / Ellsworth CC (IA)) walk, Dini crushed his second home run of the year, a three-run shot to deep left field in staking the Seahawks to what appeared to be a comfortable 7-2 lead.
The lead would be short lived as the Highlanders responded with five runs in the bottom part of the frame. Dave Stern was plunked with the bases loaded, before Scott Brosman hit a grand slam to even up the score at 7-7.
After both teams went in order in the fifth inning, Wagner batted around in the sixth in scoring five runs in taking an insurmountable 12-7 lead.
With the bases loaded and one out, Dini laced a two-run, bases-loaded single to left field, scoring Keel and Miller to make it a 9-7 game. Gray then drew his third walk of the game while again loading the bases. Ruta, like Dini, delivered a two-run single of his own in plating Smith and Dini. Flynn then capped the scoring by chasing home Gray with a sacrifice fly in pushing the lead out to 12-7.
NJIT again rallied with a pair of runs in the bottom part of the frame to close the gap to 12-9.
However, that would be as close as the Highlanders would get as Seahawk pitching put up zeros over the final three frames, capped by 2.0 dominant innings from senior RHP
Nick Alfano (Coral Springs, FL / North Broward Prep). The Sunshine state native struck out three in earning his first career save. Sophomore RHP
Max Schmardel (Eatontown, NJ / Monmouth Regional) was the beneficiary of Alfano's solid performance, in collecting his first collegiate victory. Schmardel (1-1) struck out one while allowing two runs over 2.1 innings of work.
Wagner, which matched a season-high with eight stolen bases, was paced by the top of the order as Miller notched his team-leading fourth four-hit game. Dini and Ruta also added a pair of hits to round out the multiple-hit performers.
Despite seeing his hitting streak end at 17 games, Gray managed to draw three walks and score a pair of runs while Keel stole three bases while reaching base safely three times.
Bickert went 3-for-5 with two doubles and two runs to lead NJIT.
Wagner returns to action against Mount St. Mary's on Friday, May 3 at 3:00 pm.
Follow Wagner Athletics on Twitter (@wagnerathletics) for all the latest news and updates on the athletic department and @WagBaseball for news and updates on the baseball program.
Photography by Dave Saffran
