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Smithfield, RI - The Wagner baseball team dropped the series opener at Bryant, 7-0, on Friday afternoon at Conaty Park.

With the loss, the Seahawks fall to 10-19, and 5-8 in Northeast Conference (NEC) play while the Bulldogs improve to 21-7 and 10-1 in league action.

Sophomore RF Kyle Cala (Brick, NJ/Brick Memorial) and freshman 1B Anthony Harrold (Woodbury, NJ/Gloucester Catholic) each had two hits on the afternoon for the Green & White.

Senior RHP Mike Adams (Egg Harbor Township, NJ/Holy Spirit) lasted 4.2 innings, giving up seven hits, six earned runs while walking a career-high ten batters and striking out three in defeat (1-5).  Fellow classmate, left-hander Paul Mammino (Hillsborough, NJ/Hillsborough) pitched 3.1 innings in relief, allowing four hits, an earned run and struck out two. 

Bryant's starting pitcher, James Karinchak, tossed seven innings of five-hit ball, walking two batters and striking out eight batters in earning his seventh victory of the season. 

The Bulldogs scored five times in the bottom of the first. After back-to-back walks, Robby Rinn singled up the middle which scored Cole Fabio for the first run of the contest. Adams was able to get Matt Albanese to fly-out to right and doubled off Brandon Bingel at second as Cala fired a strike to junior shortstop Nick Mascelli (Clifton, NJ/Seton Hall Prep) for the second out of the inning. The next batter, Buck McCarthy tripled to right center field for the second run as Rinn came around to score.  Nick Angelini followed the McCarthy triple with a single up the middle, plating Bryant's third run. The final tally of the frame came as Malik Daley singled through the left side which scored both Angelini and Wood giving Bryant a 5-0 advantage.

Wagner had a chance in the top of the fourth as Capra doubled down the right field line on a 2-2 pitch from Karinchak. Sophomore 3B Sean Mazzio (West Chester, PA/Salesianum School [DE]) singled to center, giving the visitors runners at the corners with two outs but the scoring threat came to a halt as Harrold flew out to right ending the inning. 

In Wagner's half of the fifth, the Seahawks got a timely two-out double off the bat of senior CF Trey Nicosia (State College, PA/State College Area). Nicosia was left at second when senior DH Ben Ruta (West Windsor, NJ/West-Windsor Plainsboro South) flew out to right ending the inning.  Bryant tacked on a run in the bottom of the stanza in increasing the lead to 6-0 as Fabio singled to left plating Wood. 

In the seventh, Harrold led off the frame with a hard-hit ball up the middle and later advanced to second on a wild pitch. After Mascelli had sent a grounder to the right side of the infield, the first-year Seahawk first baseman moved up to third but was stranded on an another fly-out ending the threat. The final tally came in the bottom of the seventh as Fabio sent a sacrifice fly to right field, which Dan Cellucci tagged up from third and scored on, ti give the Bulldogs a 7-0 lead they would not relinquish.

These two teams will be back in action for games two and three of the four-game series as they will play two, seven innings games. 

In game two, Wagner is scheduled to start senior RHP Nick Pavia (Staten Island, NY/St. Joseph By The Sea), who will be making his first start since April 29 of last year (against Manhattan). In the nightcap, junior RHP Austin Goeke (Bordentown, NJ/The Hun School) will be making his eighth start of the year (3-2, 2.50 ERA). Both games will be streamed live, free of charge, on NEC Front Row. 

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