Wappingers Falls, NY - The #2 seed Wagner baseball team defeated the #1 seed Central Connecticut State, 8-3, to advance to the championship round of the 2023 Northeast Conference (NEC) Baseball Tournament. 

As it did yesterday against Fairleigh Dickinson, Wagner hit the ground running and provided plenty of run support for its starter, sophomore Frankie Wright. Wright dominated across his 7.2 innings of work, helping Wagner earn its first title game appearance since 2018.

Senior Griffin Selby got the scoring started in the first with an RBI single through the right side. In the second inning, the Seahawks built a comfortable lead with three runs.

Junior Chris Conniff drove in redshirt junior Xavier Ulrich before junior Ariv Camacho hustled home on a wild pitch. Senior David Melfi added to the big inning with an RBI double down the right field line.

The Seahawks added four more runs in the eighth to cement their spot in the championship round. Freshman Zack Kent scored on a wild pitch and Conniff scored on a balk. Sandwiched in between the two CCSU miscues was a two-RBI single from Melfi — raising his total to a team-high six RBIs for the tournament.

Up until the final two innings the scoring went stagnant, with Wright keeping the Blue Devils off of the scoreboard for seven strong innings. He yielded two runs in the eighth, but his eight strikeouts were enough to defeat the top seed.

With two wins in the tournament under its belt, Wagner will await the winner of the loser's bracket for a 4:00 pm game on Saturday. It will have to win once in two tries to capture their first conference championship since 2000.