NEC Tournament Central | Watch Live | Live Stats | Wagner Notes |Staten Island Advance Feature:
Nick Pavia Battled Through Two Arm Surgeries and the Payoff Has Finally Arrived;
by Cormac GordonNorwich, CT – The Wagner College baseball team (27-21-1; 15-9 NEC), under the direction of fourth-year head coach
Jim Carone, heads into the 2015 Northeast Conference (NEC) Tournament as the No. 2 seed and opens the four-team event today vs. the No. 3 Sacred Heart University Pioneers, with first pitch slated for 4:00 p.m.
LEADING OFF: NEC TOURNAMENT QUICK HITS- This the second straight season that the Seahawks have qualified for the NEC Tournament.
- This is Wagner's 11th tournament appearance and the team is 8-19 all-time.
- The Green & White will be the No. 2 seed for the second time in program history and are 2-2 as the No. 2 seed.
- The Seahawks were the No. 2 seed back in 2004 and reached the Championship game before falling to Central Connecticut.
- Wagner won its lone NEC Title in 2000 against coach Carone's alma mater and former NEC member, Monmouth. Carone was a pitcher on that Monmouth squad.
- As a player, Carone's Monmouth teams went 9-8 in the NEC Tournament.
- The Seahawks will be taking on Sacred Heart for the second straight year after meeting the Pioneers on Day 2 of last season's NEC Tournament.
LAST OUTING: SEAHAWKS DEFEAT BRYANT 5-3 ON SENIOR DAY...- Wagner concluded the 2015 Northeast Conference (NEC) regular season with a 5-3 home victory on Saturday afternoon over the Bryant University Bulldogs.
- The Seahawks honored their 10 seniors during a pre-game ceremony. The 10 seniors who played their final game at Richmond County Ballpark included catchers Nick Dini (Monroe Township, NJ/Monroe Township) and Jason Gordon (Baltimore, MD/Archbishop Curley), infielders Tommy Mazurkiewicz (Neshanic Station, NJ/Somerville) and Dan Wasilick (Toms River, NJ/Toms River East), outfielders Trey Nicosia (State College, PA/State College Area) and Zack Yesko (Mukwonago, WI/Mukwonago) along with pitchers Anthony Battaglia (Staten Island, NY/St. Joseph By The Sea), Steven Bloodworth (Annandale, NJ/North Hunterdon), Evon Previte (Raritan, NJ/Immaculata), and Max Schmardel (Eatontown, NJ/Monmouth Regional).
- The Seahawks raced out to a quick start with a two-out, first inning rally to score three runs. Junior LF Ben Ruta (West Windsor, NJ/West-Windsor Plainsboro South) drew a two-out walk and advanced to second on a wild pitch and scored on an RBI single off the bat of Dini. Mazurkiewicz followed up with a two-run blast over the left field wall.
- The Bulldogs added two more runs in the top of the fifth to tie the game at 3-3. Wagner answered back with runs in the sixth and seventh to take a 5-3 lead. Dini, Wagner's all-time career hits leader and all-time leader in games played, doubled to open the sixth and scored on a sacrifice fly to left from Gordon. Wasilick kicked off the seventh with a single and scored on a sac fly from Nicosia.
- Junior right-hander Mike Adams (Egg Harbor Township, NJ/Holy Spirit) started for the Seahawks and pitched well in his five innings of work. He allowed three runs on eight hits, walked two and struck out six in picking up a no decision. Junior left-hander Paul Mammino (Hillsborough, NJ/Hillsborough) came on n relief and picked up his second win of the season, tossing three innings of three-hit ball without allowing a run Bloodworth added to his career save total as he notched his eighth save of the year and 14th for his career.
DINI FINISHES THE YEAR WITH HIGHEST BATTING AVG IN NEC...- Senior C/INF Nick Dini (Monroe Township, NJ/Monroe Township) finished the 2015 Northeast Conference (NEC) season with the highest batting average as the Garden State native batted an even .400 on the year (68-for-170).
- In accomplishing this feat, he became the second Seahawk to lead the NEC for the entire season in hitting since 1993 when Jack Scholz claimed the league's batting title with a .418 average.
DINI IS WAGNER'S NEW ALL-TIME CAREER HITS LEADER...- In game one of a May 9 doubleheader at Sacred Heart, Nick Dini, with teammate Ben Ruta (West Windsor, NJ/West-Windsor Plainsboro South) on first, faced a 3-2 count from pitcher Jason Foley.
- On the sixth pitch of the at-bat, Dini drove the ball to deep left field as he connected on his then fourth home run of the season.
- The home run gave Dini 236 career hits, surpassing the total of former Seahawk Damian Csakai (2007-10), who finished with 235 career hits.
- The Garden State native has 244 hits entering the NEC Tournament.
NICK-ING THE RECORD BOOKS...- This season, Dini put forth a tremendous senior campaign in becoming Wagner's all-time career hits leader (244).
- In addition, the veteran backstop is Wagner's all-time leader in the following statistical categories: Most Games Played (213); Most Games Started (213); Most At-Bats (787).
SLOW START; BETTER FINISH...- The Wagner baseball team had a rough start to open the season.
- Through the first ten games of the season, the Seahawks were 0-9-1, with the tie coming in the final game of the South Florida series.
- The Green & White recorded its first win on March 14 against Northeastern, 9-3.
- The win kicked off a season-high seven-game win streak.
- From that game, the Seahawks went 25-13 the rest of the way en route to locking up the No. 2 seed in this year's NEC Tournament.
AGAINST THE FIELD...- Against the other three participants in the NEC Tournament, Wagner is 0-3 against Sacred Heart, 0-1 against Bryant and 0-1 against FDU.
- During the regular season, the Seahawks split the season series with Sacred Heart and Bryant and took three of four against Fairleigh Dickinson.
AGAINST SACRED HEART...- In the four-game series at Sacred Heart this season, the Seahawks batted a collective .292 (35-for-120) with 18 runs, 3 doubles, 2 HRs.
- Four Seahawks batted over .300, led by freshman DH Anthony Godino (Thornwood, NY/Pleasantville), who batted .385 (5-for-13) against the Pioneers. Dini also batted .385 (5-for-13) with 2 HRs and 7 RBIs and a slugging percentage of .923.
- Junior Ben Ruta (West Windsor, NJ/West-Windsor Plainsboro South) and sophomore SS Nick Mascelli (Clifton, NJ/Seton Hall Prep) each posted identical .375 averages.
- On the mound, sophomore Nolan Long (Waterford, CT/Waterford [South Kent Prep]) posted a 1-0 record and a miniscule ERA of 1.29 in his lone appearance at Sacred Heart, tossing 7.0 innings allowing 1 run, 1 walk and 7 strikeouts.
AGAINST BRYANT...- Dini, Ruta and freshman 3B Sean Mazzio (West Chester, PA/Salesianum School [DE]) all batted over .300 with Dini doubling that, batting .600 (6-for-10) with 2 doubles, 1 HR and 4 RBIs while slugging 1.100.
- Mazzio clipped .417 (5-for-12) while Ruta swatted .357 over the four games against Bryant.
- The bullpen pitched effectively against the No. 1 seeded Bulldogs, as fifth-year senior Nick Pavia (Staten Island, NY/St. Joseph By The Sea), senior Anthony Battaglia (Staten Island, NY/St. Joseph By The Sea), senior closer Steven Bloodworth (Annandale, NJ/North Hunterdon) and junior Paul Mammino (Hillsborough, NJ/Hillsborough) combined to go 2-0 in 11.2 innings allowing just seven hits, no runs, three walks and 10 strikeouts.
AGAINST FAIRLEIGH DICKINSON...- In taking three of four against the Knights, Mascelli anchored the offense, batting .533 (8-for-15) with 3 runs scored, 2 doubles, 5 RBIs. Godino swatted .400 (4-for-10) while driving in three runs.
- Combined, the Seahawks pitching staff posted a 2.61 ERA in the four-game series in Hackensack as the Knights hitters were only able to manage a .218 batting average during the four-game span.
CARONE NOW FOURTH ON THE ALL-TIME WINS LIST...- After starting the season 0-9-1, fourth-year head coach Jim Carone has led the Seahawks to the NEC Tournament for the second straight season.
- Carone, who entered the season with an overall record of 65-99-0; moved up to fourth on Wagner's all-time wins list, finishing the year at 27-21-1 to bring his all-time career record to 92-120-1.
SEAHAWKS SELECTED THIRD IN 2015 NEC PRESEASON POLL- The Wagner baseball team, which reached the Northeast Conference (NEC) tournament a season ago for the first time in four years, was selected third in the 2015 NEC Coaches' Preseason Poll, as announced by the league office over the weekend.
- Reigning back-to-back conference champion Bryant received the six first-place votes to claim the top spot in the preseason poll following a 2014 campaign which saw the Bulldogs win 42 games in total while recording a league mark of 19-5.
- Last year's runner-up Sacred Heart, who has advanced to the NEC Championship round every year since 2009, received the final first place vote. Wagner, Central Connecticut, LIU Brooklyn, Mount St. Mary's and Fairleigh Dickinson round out the seven-team poll.
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