Pictured Above: Senior CF Joe Silvestrone (Credit: Gerry Nelson Wall, Class of '81)

Box Score | Box Score (HTML) 

Piscataway, NJ – Juniors Dario Anderson and Griffin Schneider kicked-started the bottom of the ninth with back-to-back singles before senior SS Anthony Pecora drove in Anderson to cut Mount St. Mary's lead to one, but the Mountaineers were able to hang on for a 6-5 win over Wagner in the Northeast Conference (NEC) opener at Rutgers University's Bainton Field on Friday.
 
With the loss, Wagner falls to 2-11 overall while the Mount evens its record at 6-6. With today's result, the Green & White's seven-game win streak over the visiting Mountaineers came to an end as the Seahawks were last defeated by Mount St. Mary's back in the first game of the May 19, 2017 doubleheader in Emmitsburg, MD.
 
Four Seahawks produced two hits in today's conference lidlifter - junior DH Freddy Sabido, senior CF Joe Silvestrone, Schneider and sophomore Emil Matti. Pecora and Silvestrone each drove in two RBIs, as well, while senior 3B Will Johnson was credited with the other RBI.
 
Senior lefthander, Neil Abbatiello, took the loss (0-2) after going five innings in which he gave up five runs on nine hits despite walking one and striking out four. Junior reliever Ryan Lauk threw 2.2 frames of relief, giving up a run on two hits while walking three and striking out three. Newcomer Justin Beyer threw the final 1.1 innings, walking two and striking out two, which included the final out in the top of the eighth.
 
Three Mountaineers also produced multi-hit performances in the conference opener as Ryan Fisher, Thomas Savastio and Bryant Shives had two hits apiece, while Shives drove in three of the six runs for the Mountaineers.

Mount's starter, Trey McGough, earned his second win of the year (2-1) after working six innings, in which he gave up four runs on eight hits while walking one and striking out three. Noah Smith worked two innings in relief of McGough, while Michael Kuypers came on in the ninth to record his second save of the season.
 
After Abbatiello retired the visitors in order in the top of the first, the Seahawks struck for the game's first runs, scoring twice in taking an early 2-0 lead. With one out, Sabido sent a single towards right field that was fielded by 2B Alex Kriss and moved to second as the ball trickled its way towards the on-deck circle, which allowing Sabido to move to second.
 
On a 0-1 pitch from McGough, Silvestrone then roped the first of his two triples on the day to center field, which brought in Sabido to give Wagner a 1-0 lead. Johnson sent the first pitch that he saw towards second, which allowed Silvestrone to trit home for the game's second run.
 
After a scoreless second, Mount evened the score at 2-2 in the top of the third. Savastio reached on an infield single that ricocheted off Abbatiello's glove towards Pecora. Shives then sent Abbatiello's 2-2 pitch over the left field wall to tie the score at two.
 
Mount added two more in the fourth and one in the fifth in taking a 5-2 lead. In the top of the fourth, Patrick Causa tripled to center and came into score on a Sean Kelly single through the left side.

The Seahawks' defense kept it a one-run game  on a defensive gem by Johnson. After stabbing a grounder off the bat of Savastio, and alertly tagging out Kelly trying to advance, Johnson then fired a strike to junior 1B Tyler Sanfillippo, who made an outstanding stretch in recording the second out.
 
Shives came through again for the visitors, sending a single to right center field that brought in Costello as Mount went up 4-2. With two outs in the top of the fifth, Kriss singled to right center that scored Fisher, after he sent a base hit to left, in making it a 5-2 game.
 
The Green & White closed the gap to one, 5-4, in the bottom half of the frame. Matti led off with a double and moved to third on a wild pitch from McGough. Pecora sent a high fly to right field as Matti alertly tagged up and scored. Sabido then followed with the second hit of the inning before Silvestrone drove a towering shot that sailed over Mount' CF, Jared Urban's head, for his second triple of the game, cutting the lead to one.
 
The score remained that way over the next two innings before the visitors got an insurance tally in the top of the eighth, in upping their lead to 6-4. Lauk was able to get Zack Costello to fly out to right before walking Savastio, who stole second and Shives, who walked on four straight pitches. Urban flew out to center for the second out of the inning before the Seahawks went to the bullpen in the form of Beyer.
 
Beyer intentionally walked Nicholson and issued a free pass to Fisher, after getting the count to 3-2, as the Mountaineers took a 6-4 lead. Beyer then retired Kriss on three pitches to conclude the inning.  After Beyer retired the visitors in order in the top of the ninth, the Seahawks would need three runs to walk off to victory.
 
Anderson, who was inserted as a pinch-hitter for sophomore Mike Ruggiero, who came on for starter Shamus Connolly at second, sent a first-pitch single to right. Schneider notched his first multi-hit game in a Seahawk uniform, as he sent a base hit to left, giving the Seahawks two runners with no one out.
 
Mount went to its pen in the form of Kuypers, while junior Eric Lauk came on as pinch-runner for Schneider. Matti flew out for the first out of the inning before Pecora reached on a fielder's choice that scored Anderson, making it 6-5. Sabido rolled one back to Kuypers, who threw over to first for the final out of the inning.
 
These teams resume their weekend series at Bainton Field on Saturday, March 16, with first-pitch slated for 1:00 p.m. Fans can follow along using the Live Stats link or by getting in-game updates via the Wagner Baseball Twitter account (@WagBaseball).
 
Follow us: #CHAOSonthehill
Wagner Athletics:    
Wagner Baseball: