Gastonia, N.C. — Wagner split its first two games of the season-opening series against Indiana State after inclement weather forced a doubleheader on Friday, February 14.
Moving game two up to Friday to avoid rain in the forecast, the Seahawks won the opener 3-2 on a walk-off home run from sophomore
Diego Tavarez, then dropped the second game 16-6 after the Sycamore bats got hot.
Game 1
Scoreless through the first six innings of the game, Wagner's season opener was shaping up to be a pitching duel before Tavarez brought the excitement at the end.
Down to the final out of the game, the heroic swing down the right field line scored junior
Nicholas Mazzotta, who had reached on a fielder's choice.
The season opener had been scoreless until Indiana State took a 2-0 lead in the top of the seventh inning on a pair of RBI doubles. Wagner's starting pitcher
Connor Hayden threw four hitless innings and struck out four Sycamores, putting the Seahawks in good position to start tallying hits. While Hayden held things down on the mound, the Seahawks' offense was held scoreless until the bottom of the seventh, when a ground ball from
Lukas Torres was hit to second base and scored
Leo Doyle for the team's first run of the game.
Junior
Jason Masick was credited as the winning pitcher after he entered the game and threw a scoreless ninth to give Wagner an opportunity to win the game. He gave up just one hit and walked a batter, but kept the Sycamores from adding any runs when it counted most. The righty finishes Friday with a 1-0 record to start his season off. With Indiana State's starter Ryan Karst and his reliever Max McEwen throwing a combined six scoreless innings to open the game, including five with no hits, the Seahawks took what they could when it came to plate appearances.
Torres and Mazzotta hold the first two spots in the lineup and both hitters were able to work a pair of walks each. In a game where hits where hard to come by and there was little traffic on the bases, those walks made for productive at bats. Senior
Bryce Phelps had a big game at the plate with two hits to his name, a double to right field in the bottom of the sixth and a single in the bottom of the eighth. Sophomores
Connor Roche and
Joseph Mennella logged the Seahawks' other two hits.
Game 2
Indiana State jumped out to an early lead in the second half of the doubleheader after Carter Beck and Carlos Pena hit home runs in the bottom of the first to put the Sycamores up 3-0.
Junior pitcher
Heitaro Hayashi got his first start as a Seahawk and left the game after throwing two innings. He gave up four hits and five runs to the Sycamores, striking out two of the 11 batters he faced. The Sycamores got off to a hot start, hitting three home runs in the first two innings. Wagner answered in the top of the fifth inning, down 5-0, when Roche had a home run of his own to bring some momentum to his dugout.
Wagner finished with six runs on 11 hits, a solid offensive showing after the low-scoring battle of game one.
Freshman
Jake Griess finished with two runs and two hits in his two at bats, hitting fifth in the lineup after relieving Mazzotta at second base. Hitting sixth,
Mateo Matthews had an RBI double and Phelps continued his plate success in the second game, going 3-of-4, batting in two runs for an average of .714 on the day. Freshman
Matt Sutera was the third Seahawk, alongside Griess and Phelps, to have a multi-hit game after going 2-of-4. The newcomer hit ninth in his start at shortstop.
The series will be decided in a rubber game at 1 p.m. EST on Saturday, February 15.
