Pictured Above: Junior DH Freddy Sabido (Credit: Greg Fencik)
 
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Piscataway, NJ – The Wagner College baseball team engaged in a back-and-forth midweek contest at Rutgers this afternoon, with the Scarlet Knights edging out the Seahawks, 11-10, at Bainton Field.
 
With the loss, the Green & White falls to 7-17 overall while Rutgers improves to 8-17 on the season.
 
Seniors Anthony Pecora and Will Johnson, along with junior Griffin Schneider, each tallied two hits in today's game. Pecora, junior DH Freddy Sabido and senior CF Joe Silvestrone each crossed the plate twice with Sabido and Silvestrone driving in two RBIs apiece.
 
Starter Justin Beyer cruised through the first two innings before being tagged with five runs on five hits in three total innings of work. Junior reliever Ryan Lauk (0-2) took the loss in today's seesaw affair, as he lasted two innings while allowing three runs.
 
Carmen Sclafani powered the Rutgers offense this afternoon, finishing 4-for-4 with three runs scored and drove in seven RBIs. Chris Brito added two hits while scoring thrice. Steven Acosta, who pitched a third of an inning, earned his first win of the season while Serafino Brito came on to toss the final 1.2 scoreless frames in recording the save.
 
Wagner struck for the game's first run. Pecora led off with double to left center field and came around to score on the RBI sacrifice fly from Silvestrone. The Seahawks added a run in the top of the second in building a two-run advantage. Schneider sent a lead off single to left. Junior 1B Tyler Sanfillippo drew a walk and sophomore LF Emil Matti reached on a fielding error by the Scarlet Knights' third baseman, Sclafani to load the bases.
 
On the first pitch sophomore SS Mike Ruggiero saw, he rolled into a 6-4-3 double play, which allowed Schneider to trot home for the second run of the contest. The Green & White would plate across one more in the top of the third with  Silvestrone again the catalyst, drawing a two-out walk before scoring on Johnson's RBI triple that made it 3-0.
 
The Scarlet Knights evened the game at 3-3 in its half of the third. A pair of doubles from Scalfani and Luke Bowerbank ignited the rally while Andy Axelson plated home RU's first run as he reached on an infield single to third which scored Scalfani.
 
Beyer was able to get Mike Nyisztor to ground into a 6-4-3 double play, but, couldn't retire Kevin Welsh, who sent a 2-0 singled to second, that trimmed the Wagner lead to 3-2.  Welsh stole second and scored the tying run when Tim Dezzi ripped a single to center.
 
In the bottom of the fourth, Rutgers har the first two men on before the Seahawks went to the bullpen in the form of Lauk, who was able to retire the first batter he saw on a foul out to freshman catcher Johnny Kampes.
 
Sclafani took Lauk's 1-0 pitch over the left field for a three-run home run that broke the tie and gave the home team its first lead of the afternoon.
 
The tenacious Seahawks answered back with a trio of scores of its own, knotting the game at 6-6 in the top of the fifth. These runs came off two hits and an error.
 
Schneider sent a base hit to short that scored Kampes. The next run came off a wild pitch from Acosta, which made it 6-5 in favor of Rutgers. Sanfillippo reached on a fielding error by Sclafani, which allowed Johnson to come home as the tying-run.
 
The Scarlet Knights regained the lead in the bottom of the stanza as Sclafani drove in his fifth RBI of the day, scoring Brito and Dezzi on his two-run single to center field as Rutgers went back ahead, 8-6.
 
Once again, the determined visitors cut the lead to one, 8-7, in the seventh, as Sanfillippo rocketed a first-pitch single to right, scoring Silvestrone, who led off the inning with a walk.

RU added three more runs in the bottom of the inning, in upping the advantage to 11-7 as Scalfani drove in his final two RBIs of the contest on a single back up the middle.  Nyisztor was credited with the third RBI of the frame as he drew a bases loaded walk.
 
Wagner nearly tied the game again in the eighth, as the Seahawks scored three times, to trail 11-10. A walk to Ruggiero followed by a one-out fielding mishap by Dezzi gave the Seahawks two runners on. Sabido turn on Eric Reardon's 0-1 pitch, sending the ball to the deepest part of center field for a triple, as Pecora and Ruggiero scored.
 
The next batter, Silvestrone, doubled down the left field line that brought in Sabido as Wagner found themselves down one. Johnson reached first after the ball got away from Axelson on the strikeout. Johnson moved to second on a wild pitch, with Silvestrone moving to third. Serafino Brito was able to record the final two outs, stranding the would-be tying and go-ahead runs.
 
In the ninth, sophomore catcher Brandon Hall drew a walk and was lifted for a pinch-runner. Pecora grounded to second as Dezzi flipped the ball over to Welsh for final out as Rutgers held on for the win.
 
Wagner resumes Northeast Conference (NEC) action as the Seahawks gear up for a three-game series at Sacred Heart, beginning on Friday afternoon.

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