Pictured Above: Senior Anthony Pecora (Credit: Ross Pirrotta)
 
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Queens, NY – The Wagner baseball team led 5-1 heading into the bottom of the sixth before the St. John's Red Storm scored twice in the bottom half of the inning and added three more scores in their half of the seventh to come-from-behind for the 6-5 win.
 
With the loss, the Seahawks fall to 15-28 while St. John's improves to 26-19. Tonight's contest against SJU marked the 69th all-time meeting between the two New York City-based schools and was the final midweek contest for Wagner in 2019.
 
Senior SS Anthony Pecora had three hits to lead the Wagner offense while classmate Will Johnson added two hits. Pecora, junior 1B Tyler Sanfillippo, Johnson and freshman catcher, Johnny Kampes, all drove in an RBI in tonight's contest.
 
Freshman left-hander, John LaPointe, who made his first career start for the Green & White, allowed one run on four hits in four innings of work while walking two and striking out three. Senior Douglas Molnar worked 1.2 frames, giving up two runs on three hits while striking out one.
 
Justin Beyer, who replaced Molnar, took the loss, after giving up three runs on six hits in 1.1 frames in which he walked two and struck out one. Junior Nick Robino worked a scoreless eight, striking out three and walked one.
 
Mike Antico led the way for St. John's with three hits, while Ryan Markey, Peter Abinanti and Ryan Hogan each had two hits. Hogan drove in a pair of RBIs, as did Carson Bartels, Sean McGeehan, Abinanti and Rudy Aguilar.
 
St. John's used a total of nine pitchers, in which Turner French picked up his third win of the season while Gavin Hollowell picked up his fifth save of the season.
 
After a two scoreless innings, the Red Storm struck for the game's first run in the bottom of the third.  Antico led off the inning with a triple to right center. Bartels promptly sent a first-pitch single to left that brought in Antico in giving St. John's a 1-0 lead.
 
The Red Storm threatened for more in the inning but Mitchell Henshaw flew out to junior Schneider in right and alertly fired a strike to Sanfillippo at first to double off Bartels in ending the inning.
 
Wagner scored the bulk of its runs over the fourth, fifth and sixth innings, starting off with a three-run fourth. Matti led off the Seahawk fourth with a single to left. Pecora followed suit with a double to right center that gave the visitors runners in scoring position with no outs.
 
Sanfillippo, facing an 0-1 count against Greenberg, grounded out to short for the first out but not before Matti trotted home to knot the game at one. A walk to Sabido concluded Ben Greenberg's afternoon. Johnson put Wagner ahead, 2-1, sending a single through the left side that brought in Pecora.
 
The Green & White tacked on an additional run to up its lead to two, 3-1, as Henry bounced one in the dirt that scooted away from Henshaw that scored Sabido from third. Wagner added its fourth run of the contest in the top of the fifth as Pecora doubled home Matti.
 
In the sixth, with two outs, Kampes sent an RBI double down the right field line, scoring Schneider that increased the lead to four, 5-1.
 
St. John's cut the Wagner lead to two, 5-3, in their half of the sixth. With two outs, Abinanti, who pinch-hit for Brandon Miller, singled to left center that end Molnar's evening. Beyer came on and allowed a RBI single to Hogan that made it 5-2 before Aguilar added an RBI base hit that brought in Abinanti to make it 5-3.
 
The Red Storm continued its comeback attempt in the bottom of the seventh, as Wyatt Mascarella walked. A one-out single from Markey gave the home team a pair of runners on the corner. On the first pitch that McGeehan saw, he singled through the left side, scoring Mascarella that trimmed the deficit down to 5-4.
 
Abinanti also sent a first-pitch single back-up-the-middle that plated home the tying run in Markey. St. John's plated home the go-ahead run on the fourth straight hit in the inning, as Hogan reached on a suicide squeeze that scored McGeehan and gave the Red Storm the lead and eventually won by that count.
 
Wagner closes out its home portion of the 2019 season this weekend, as the Seahawks will host Stony Brook for a three-game set, beginning on Saturday, May 12, as the two teams will square off in a doubleheader, with first-pitch slated for 12:00 p.m.
 
The regular season home finale, set for Sunday, May 13 on Mother's Day, will also be Senior Day, with first-pitch set for 1:00 p.m. All three games are scheduled to be streamed live on NECFrontRow.com, as Keith Raad will have the call from Richmond County Bank Ballpark.

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