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Norwich, CT – The Wagner baseball team, which posted its third 20-win season under newly-crowned Northeast Conference (NEC) Coach of the Year Jim Carone, and was led all year by NEC Player of the Year Nick Dini (Monroe Township, NJ/Monroe Township), saw its season come to an end with a 4-2 loss to top-seeded Bryant on Day two of the conference tournament today at Dodd Stadium.

The Seahawks, who earned the No. 2 seed in the NEC Tournament, finish with an overall record of 27-23-1 while the Bulldogs, who will await the loser of this afternoon's matchup between No. 4 seed Fairleigh Dickinson and No. 3 seed Sacred Heart, improve to 27-24.

Dini, a member of the official watch list for the Johnny Bench Award, given annually to the top Division I collegiate catcher, was the NEC batting champion with a .400 average while splitting time behind the plate and at second base during his senior season. Fittingly, he capped his illustrious Seahawk career this afternoon by blasting a home run on his final career at bat, an eighth-inning solo blast down the left field line, which was his seventh round-tripper of the season.

Wagner's all-time career hits leader with 245, Dini also ends his career No. 1 on the all-time Seahawk career list in games played (215), games started (215) and at-bats (793).

Sophomore SS Nick Mascelli (Clifton, NJ/Seton Hall Prep) added the other Seahawk RBI on a sacrifice fly in the fifth inning.

Junior right-hander Mike Adams (Egg Harbor Township, NJ/Holy Spirit) needed just 21 pitches in cruising through the first two innings before yielding a single to Buck McCarthy leading off the third inning. McCarthy attempted to steal second but senior backstop Jason Gordon (Baltimore, MD/Archbishop Curley) fired a strike to Dini for the first out.

Adams issued a walk to AJ Zarozny before getting Dan Cellucci to strike out on a pitch that nicked the outside corner for the second out of the inning. Another walk, this one issued to Jordan Mountford, put runners on first and second, both of whom came around to score when Cole Fabio drilled a 2-2 pitch down the left field line for a two-run double which staked Bryant to a 2-0 lead.

The Bulldogs tacked on a run in the top of the fourth. Brandon Bingel singled to Adams and advanced to second when Adams threw the ball over the head of senior 1B Tommy Mazurkiewicz (Neshanic Station, NJ/Somerville) for an error.  John Mullen then laced a 2-0 pitch to left-center which scored Bingel. The Seahawks turned to their bullpen at this point as fifth-year senior Nick Pavia (Staten Island, NY/St. Joseph By The Sea) came on in relief. The righty prevented further damage by inducing back-to-back ground ball outs before retiringon  Zarozny on a five-pitch strikeout.

The Green & White tried to stage a comeback in the bottom half of the frame as junior LF Ben Ruta (West Windsor, NJ/West-Windsor Plainsboro South) singled to left field, breaking up starter James Karinchak's no-hit bid.  With one out, Mazurkiewicz reached on  a fielder's choice, followed by freshman DH Anthony Godino's (Thornwood, NY/Pleasantville) walk which loaded the bases. But the threat was erased as Godino was forced out at second on a grounder by freshman 3B Sean Mazzio (West Chester, PA/Salesianum School [DE]).

The Seahawks scored their first run of the contest with one out in the bottom of the fifth.  After senior RF Zack Yesko (Mukwonago, WI/Mukwonago) doubled to left center, senior CF Trey Nicosia (State College, PA/State College Area) singled to right field, putting runners on the corners. Facing a 1-1 count, Mascelli delivered a sac fly by lifting a deep fly to center field, allowing Yesko to tag from third for the Seahawks' first run of the game.

The Green & White continued its threat as Dini was plunked by a Karinchak fastball to load the bases for Mazurkiewicz.  The veteran first baseman connected on Karinchak's 1-1 pitch with a shot to right field but Bryant's Matt Albanese to chase it down for the third out, preserving the 3-1 Bryant lead in the process.

After Bryant scored in the top of the eighth on a McCarthy RBI single to make it 4-1, the Seahawks were able to trim the deficit back to two, 4-2 on Dini's towering leadoff home run over the left field wall off of James Davitt who had relieved Karinchak in the seventh.  Mazzio reached on a two-out single through the left side but Davitt was able to strike out Gordon to end the inning.

In the ninth, Davitt set the Seahawks down in order in completing a three-inning save as the Seahawks' season came to a close.

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