Box Score / Box Score (PDF) / Casey Postgame Interview

Staten Island, NY - Junior RHP Ryan Casey (Paramus, NJ / St. Joseph Regional) struck out four and induced 14 ground outs in a complete game effort, leading Wagner to a 5-3 victory over Fairleigh Dickinson in the first of a four-game series at Richmond County Bank Ballpark.

The Seahawks improve to 10-14 and 3-2 in the Northeast Conference (NEC) with their sixth win in a row while the Knights fall to 3-19 and 0-9 in the league.

Casey (2-3) scattered three unearned runs on five hits and a walk over 9.0 innings of work and has not allowed an earned run over his last 20.1 innings of work.

After threatening in the first inning, Wagner finally broke through in the bottom of the second inning with a two-out rally. Sophomore Tommy Mazurkiewicz (Neshanic Station, NJ / Somerville) singled to right field, before graduate student Chase Gray (Toms River, NJ / Toms River South) was hit by a pitch. Sophomore Dan Wasilick (Toms River, NJ / Toms River East) then opened the scoring with a single up the middle that chased home Mazurkiewicz.

The Seahawks added to the lead with a pair of runs in the bottom of the third inning. Junior Chris Smith (Tampa, FL / Freedom / Ellsworth CC (IA)) led off with a triple, before Nick Dini (Monroe Township, NJ / Monroe Township) drew a four-pitch walk. Senior Nick Alfano (Coral Springs, FL / North Broward Prep) followed with a sacrifice fly while Dini took second. Dini then moved to third on a wild pitch and would come in to score on Ben Ruta's (Fr., West Windsor, NJ / West-Windsor Plainsboro South) RBI single up the middle.

Casey was in total control in the early going, retiring the first 10 batters he faced, before Kyle Weeks doubled down the left field line with one out in the top of the fourth inning. Weeks would later come around to score on a Green & White miscue to trim the deficit to 3-1.

Wagner immediately got that run back in the bottom part of the frame while extending the lead out to 4-1. Gray led off with a double, before coming around to score when junior Ian Miller (Downingtown, NJ / Bishop Shanahan) laced a single to right field while extending his hitting streak to 13 games.

The Seahawks would see the lead grow to 5-1 in the bottom of the fifth with another two-out rally. Ruta singled up the middle, before scoring all the way from first on a Mazurkiewicz double down the right field line.

FDU rallied for a pair of unearned runs in the top of the seventh inning, but the damage could have been worse had it not been for Alfano as the Green & White right fielder fired a strike to home to nail Jordan Ritz at the plate for the final out of the frame.

Fairleigh Dickinson threatened in both the eighth and ninth innings, only to come up short each time.

Mazurkiewicz and Ruta each recorded a pair of hits, a run and a RBI to pace an eight-hit Wagner attack.

Five different Knight players hit safely while Nick Cuono (2-3) was saddled with the loss, striking out four over a career-high 7.1 innings of work.

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

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