Pictured Above: Junior RHP Eric Ligda (Credit: Greg Fencik)
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Staten Island, NY – The Wagner baseball team scored four times in the second and tacked on three more in the seventh in picking up its fourth straight win, defeating the Fairleigh Dickinson University Knights, 7-3, in Northeast Conference (NEC) action on Friday afternoon.
With the victory, the Seahawks improve to 27-12 and remain atop the NEC standings at 12-3 while FDU falls to 10-25 and 1-14 in league action.
Junior right-hander,
Eric Ligda (6-2) scattered six hits and allowed just three runs over eight innings of work in picking up the win. Ligda walked one while striking out five, which marks the sixth time this season that he has struck out at least five batters. Senior southpaw,
Brad Currao, pitched a scoreless ninth, allowing one and striking out one.
Five Seahawks had two hits on the afternoon with junior 3B
Anthony Pecora driving in two of the seven runs. Senior LF
Anthony Godino also plated home a pair of runs. Classmates
Nick Mascelli and
Sean Mazzio, who also had two hits, were credited with one RBI apiece. The Green & White's 1-through-5 batters went a combined 8-for-20 with four runs scored and four RBIs.
Fairleigh Dickinson's starter, Trent Valentine (1-5), took the loss after tossing six innings, giving up four runs while striking out four. Evan McDonald led the FDU offense, going 2-for-4 with two of the three RBIs. Owen Vonesslinger also had a pair of hits and drove in the other tally.
Following a scoreless inning and a half, the Seahawks erupted for four runs in taking the early lead. With one out, senior
Kyle Cala was hit on a 0-2 pitch and junior CF
Joe Silvestrone followed with a single to right, but was retired trying to stretch the single into a double.
A walk to junior 1B
Will Johnson loaded the bases for Pecora. On the first pitch that he saw from Valentine, Pecora tripled to right field, scoring both Cala and Johnson to put Wagner ahead 2-0. Mascelli tripled to right-center in bringing home Pecora to make it 3-0 before Mazzio singled through the left side in scoring Mascelli.
Ligda continued his dominance on the mound. Despite giving up a base hit to Corbin Dunnuck in the third, the Avon, PA native retired the next two batters before running into a bit of a jam in the top of the sixth. Connor Stanton reached on an infield single and moved to third on a ground-rule double from Brandon Seltzer.
McDonald doubled to left field in scoring both Seltzer and Stanton. The Knights were poised to make it a big inning after Vonesslinger singled to short, but McDonald was caught in a rundown as Mazzio fired a strike to Pecora, who applied the tag on McDonald.
Wagner struck again in the bottom of the seventh with three more runs in taking a 7-2 lead. With two outs, Mazzio singled to center. Junior catcher
Phil Capra, who finished 2-for-2 at the plate, reached on a walk. Peter Theodorellis sent a 2-0 pitch to center field, scoring both Capra and Mazzio, and he came into score after a throwing error from Seltzer.
Ligda pitched to two batters in the ninth before giving way to Currao. Vonesslinger delivered on his second RBI of the game on a single through the left side, scoring Seltzer. The senior southpaw was then able to get Mike Veit to ground into the 1-6-3 double play before striking out Oliver Tavares to end the contest.
Today's game marked Wagner's first at Richmond County Bank Ballpark at St. George's this season, where the Seahawks are now 129-80 overall and 88-60 in conference games.
Wagner and FDU are scheduled to play a pair of seven-inning contests on Saturday; with game one set for 1:00 p.m.
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