Pictured Above: Sophomore Mike Ruggiero
Staten Island, NY – The Wagner College baseball team dropped a 14-8 decision to the reigning Northeast Conference (NEC) champions, LIU Brooklyn, in the first game of a three-game series on Friday evening at the Richmond County Bank Ballpark.
With the loss, the Seahawks fall to 10-19 overall and 5-5 in Northeast Conference (NEC) play while the Blackbirds improve to 11-19 on the season with a 4-6 conference mark.
After falling behind by a 3-0 count in the first inning, the Seahawks plated two runs in the home half of the inning on a
Griffin Schneider a sacrifice fly, followed by an RBI double from reigning NEC Player of the Week,
Tyler Sanfillippo.
After the Blackbirds scored two runs in the second inning, followed by a single run in each of the third and fourth frames in building a 7-2 lead, the Seahawks fought to tie the game at 7-7 with a five-run barrage in the bottom of the fourth.
Sophomore Michael Ruggiero knocked in the first of the five runs with a single to center field which scored Sanfillippo from second base.
Kampes and senior Anthony Pecora each produced RBI singles to the outfield during that stretch before Joe Silverstrone followed a Freddy Sabido single by reaching on a fielder's choice that drove in a run.
A
Will Johnson RBI single tied the game at seven apiece after four innings.
The Blackbirds quickly answered the Seahawks' offensive outburst with a two-run fifth inning to wrest back the lead. LIU Brooklyn would add five more runs between the eighth and ninth innings, while the Green & White would tally their final score of the game in the ninth, to round the game out to a 14-8 final in the Blackbirds favor.
LIU was led by catcher Brock Hallum who went 3–for-6 with four runs scored on the evening.
For Wagner, Sabido singled three times and scored one run on the day to lead the lead Green & White offense with a 3-for-5 day at the plate. Sanfillippo was the other Seahawk to muster a multi-hit game, on the strength of a 2-for-5 afternoon.
Zach Pederson earned the win for LIU with 5.2 innings of two-hit relief, finishing with five strikeouts while issuing just one walk. Seahawk starter
Eric Ligda absorbed the loss after allowing nine runs on eight hits, though just five of the runs were earned, in 4.1 innings of work.
The second game of the three game series is slated for tomorrow at 1:00 p.m.
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