Norfolk, VA - The Wagner baseball team clinched a Northeast Conference (NEC) Tournament berth with its 9-5 win over Norfolk State on Friday. The berth is Wagner's first since 2019. 

Wagner's offense led the team to victory today. On ten hits the Seahawks generated nine runs in their first game of the weekend against the Spartans.

They broke through in the second inning as the team tallied five runs on two hits.

Redshirt junior Xavier Ulrich got the scoring started with a bases-clearing double. An error on a steal attempt by junior Ariv Camacho allowed Ulrich to touch home plate. Then, senior Maimu Kobayashi hit a sacrifice fly to score Camacho and make it a 5-0 game.

While the Spartans put up runs themselves, the Seahawks kept responding. 

In the fourth inning with the score sitting at 5-2, back-to-back triples by Camacho and Kobayashi gave Wagner a five-run lead. A sacrifice fly from junior Chris Conniff padded the lead prior to the inning ending. 

Camacho added another sacrifice fly to Wagner's total on the day in the eighth inning. 

The scoring was assisted by solid pitching out of the bullpen.

The relief tandem of junior Nicholas Hanson and sophomore Daniel Merkel allowed just three baserunners aboard through 3.2 innings. 

Hanson allowed one hit over his 0.2 innings of work, while Merkel provided three no-hit innings.

Now that the Seahawks have clinched a postseason berth, their next task at hand is securing a bye in the first round of the NEC Tournament. The path to a top-two seed resumes tomorrow at 1 pm.