RIVERSIDE, Calif. — The Seahawks were able to put up runs across five innings of play, scoring consistently but ultimately falling to UC Riverside 8-5 in the series opener.

Wagner scored solo runs in the first, second, fourth, sixth and seventh, but a late push from the Highlanders proved too much. The Seahawks finished with those five runs off seven hits, with their hitters working three walks.

Graduate Lukas Torres led off for the third time this season, going 2-of-4 with a double and a walk. Joining him and putting up his first hits this season was junior Joseph Mennella, logging two hits, including his first home run of the season.

A leadoff double from Torres in the first put him in scoring position, then consecutive groundouts from senior Nicholas Mazzotta and junior Diego Tavarez pushed Torres to third and then home. A walk to sophomore Matt Sutera in the second had him moving to third when sophomore Jayden Alvarez put a single through the right side, then a sacrifice fly from redshirt freshman Dylan Simeone scored Sutera for Wagner's second run of the game. Mennella homered to lead off the fourth for the third run scored. 

Sutera and Alvarez reached via error and hit-by-pitch in the sixth, respectively, then executed a double steal to be sitting in scoring position when Simeone came back up. He added a second sacrifice fly to push Sutera across to wrap up the scoring. In the seventh, Mazzotta landed on first with a fielders' choice, then stole second and third, where he was able to score on an RBI single from Mennella.

Senior Colin Trizuto went 5.0 innings pitched in his second start of the young season, allowing just two runs on five hits and striking out three. Redshirt sophomore Joseph Steventon relieved Trizuto, going 2.2 innings and striking out four Highlanders to continue building on the middle reliever role he has been given in both his appearances.

The Seahawks held UC Riverside to just two runs across the first six innings of play and shut out the Highlanders in five, forcing the team to strand nine runners. Wagner was also more aggressive on the base paths than it had been across its three previous games, coming in with zero attempts and finishing the game with six successful steals.

Next up, the Seahawks return to the Riverside Athletic Complex for a 1 p.m. PST first pitch in local time. There will be no radio broadcast available for the game. Freshman right-handed pitcher Gavin Townsend will get the second start of his season after throwing 2.2 innings in his collegiate debut.