Teaneck, NJ — Confirming its third consecutive conference tournament bid and taking home a Northeast Conference series win on Sunday, Wagner is sitting comfortably going into the final weekend of the season after a 13-3 win over FDU.
Saturday featured a split doubleheader between the two teams but at the end of the day's NEC games, the Seahawks had a four-game lead on the closest contenders, so that win secured a bid to the tournament.
That also set up a rubber game Sunday, which became a seven-inning game after the Seahawks exploded for all 13 runs across the final four innings to make it a run-rule win.
The back half of the order game up big, with senior Mateo Matthews and sophomore Connor Roche adding three hits apiece from the six and seven spots, respectively.
Matthews scored twice and accounted for four RBIs. Senior Xavier Baker added four more on a 2-of-4 day where he also scored twice.
Junior Heitaro Hayashi gets the win, now 5-1 this season, with a five-inning outing where he allowed just three runs on three hits, the only offense FDU was able to muster. He struck out for of the 21 batters he faced. Junior Jason Masick closed out the game, throwing two scoreless innings and also striking out four to hold the Knights off the board while his offense kept scoring.
Matthews led off the fourth with a single, followed by a double from Roche, then a double from Baker that scored both runners. Baker was pushed to third on a sacrifice bunt from sophomore Leo Doyle, then Nicholas Mazzotta landed on second after getting hit by a pitch and stealing second. A sacrifice fly from sophomore Diego Tavarez scored Baker, then sophomore Joseph Mennella was hit too.
After a pitching change for the Knights, senior Bryce Phelps sent an RBI single to centerfield to score Mazzotta. A walk to graduate Xavier Ulrich loaded the bases, then the Seahawks batted around the order with a two-RBI single from Matthews to made it a 6-0 Wagner lead.
In the fifth, a pair of singles from Doyle and Mazzotta put runners on, then the pair executed a double steal on a strikeout to Tavarez. Mennella worked a walk, then Phelps had a two-RBI single to make it an 8-1 lead.
Wagner put up two more runs in the sixth, with Baker sending a two-run home run to left centerfield for his first homer as a Seahawk. That made it a 10-3 game and then the mercy rule seemed to be vaguely within reach if the offense kept pushing.
In the seventh, senior Jeremy Delamota sent a solo shot to left field to make it 11-3, then Matthews homered on a no-doubt ball to right field after an Ulrich single. With a 13-3 lead, all Masick had to do was record three outs and he did with efficiency, striking out his lead batter, walking one Knight, then striking out another before Delamota snagged the final out on a foul ball poked into the left field corner.
Next up, the Seahawks will face Delaware State for their final weekend of play in the regular season, rounding out NEC play. Game one will be senior day at 5 p.m. EST on Thursday, May 15 at SIUH Community Park, then games two and three on Friday and Saturday will both be played at 3 p.m. EST at the Trenton Thunder Ballpark.
