Staten Island, NY - Central Connecticut State rallied late for a 5-4 win over Wagner in game one of a doubleheader today.
With the loss, the Seahawks fall to 9-12 on the year, and 5-2 in Northeast Conference (NEC) play, while the Blue Devils improve to 9-14 and 2-5 in league play.
Freshman catcher
Phil Capra (North Salem, NY/North Salem), the reigning NEC Rookie of the Week, continued his hot hitting by going 3-for-4 with an RBI. Sophomores
Anthony Godino (Thornwood, NY/Pleasantville),
Sean Mazzio (West Chester, PA/Salesianum School [DE} and
Kyle Brey (Middletown, NJ/Middletown South) each had one base hit while Godino and senior CF
Ben Ruta (West Windsor, NJ/West-Windsor Plainsboro South) added an RBI apiece.
Senior RHP
Mike Adams (Egg Harbor Township, NJ/Holy Spirit) was effective, tossing six innings, allowing just one earned run, seven hits, a walk and five strikeouts on the afternoon.
The Blue Devils were paced by Dean Lockery, Nick Garland, and Matt Martinez, who each had two hits on in the opener. John Lippincott had two RBIs on the day.
Wagner opened the contest with a run in the bottom of the first as Capra doubled to right field, scoring Ruta from first. The Green & White tacked on another run in the third as Mazzio crossed the plate on an error by Lockery.
The Blue Devils trimmed Wagner's lead to 2-1 in the top of the fourth as Tyler Coleman singled to center, scoring Garland from second base. After a scoreless top of the fifth and sixth, the Seahawks went back work to work in the bottom of the sixth.
Freshman 3B
Will Johnson (Toms River, NJ/Toms River High School East) singled and senior
Trey Nicosia (State College, PA/State College Area), who pinch-hit for newcomer
Joe Silvestrone (Manalapan, NJ/Freehold Township), reached on a throwing error by CCSU's Stanley Wolpoiuk. A walk to Brey loaded the bases for Godino, who also drew a free pass and gave Wagner a 3-1 advantage. The final run of the frame came on a sacrifice fly to left off the bat of Ruta as the Green & White went up by a 4-1 count.
In the final inning, Central Connecticut rallied to score four times on three hits. The Seahawks summoned their closer, senior righty
Nick Pavia (Staten Island, NY/St. Joseph By The Sea) but the veteran Seahawk walked two and hit a batter to load the bases for Central Connecticut.
Corey Lerche pinch-hit for Andrew Hinckley and came up with an RBI single through the left side that brought CCSU within two, 4-2. The Seahawks went back to the pen in the form of freshman reliever
Cory Heitler (Fair Lawn, NJ/Fair Lawn), who was was able to strike out Ryan Costello on a 1-2 fastball for the first out of the inning. An error by 1B
Anthony Harrold (Woodbury, NJ/Gloucester Catholic) plated across David Balunek, which cut the lead to 4-3.
John Lippincott then delivered the eventual game-winner as he laced a two-run single to center as the Blue Devils took a 5-4 lead. Central nearly went up 6-4 after Martinez sent a deep drive to right but Pecora was able to fire a one-hopper to Capra, who applied the tag on Connor Fitzsimons.
With Wagner down to its last chance in the seventh, Harrold led off the inning with a deep double to center field. After being replaced by freshman pinch-runner
James Wise (Staten Island, NY/Tottenville), freshman
Anthony Pecora (Mamaroneck, NY / Mamaroneck) laid down a well-executed bunt, moving Wise to third. Johnson struck out swinging for the second out and junior
Brendan Benecke (Jackson, NJ/Jackson Liberty) grounded out to short to end the contest.
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