PRINCESS ANNE, Md. — Wager has now won a fourth consecutive NEC series with its win over UMES on Saturday, taking down the Hawks 9-3.
With the series win, the Seahawks have now won their weekends against Stonehill, Norfolk State, CCSU and UMES. Wagner has won six of its eight NEC series at this point in the season.
Redshirt sophomore Joseph Steventon earns the win for Saturday, now 5-2 this season with a win in consecutive starts for the first time since March 15. The righty put up the strong start Wagner needed, throwing over 100 pitches for the fourth consecutive week. In 102 pitches, Steventon allowed just one run on two hits, walking just three of the 25 batters he faced and striking out six. Junior Keith Davis entered in relief and threw the final 3.1 innings, allowing a pair of runs to score on four hits, striking out a pair of Hawks. Entering in the sixth with just a 3-1 lead, Davis earns his third save of the season with the win.
The Seahawks finished with their nine runs on nine hits, logging seven RBIs and 10 walks. Graduate Lukas Torres, freshman Brendan McLoughlin and sophomore Jayden Alvarez each finished with a pair of hits. Junior Joseph Mennella homered, 1-for-3 for four RBIs and a pair of walks. Sophomore Matt Sutera walked four times.
Wagner scored three in the first inning on a pair of hits, with a single and walk putting Torres in scoring position for junior Diego Tavarez, whose RBI single scored Torres. A groundout for Mennella scored Sutera from third, then Tavarez scored on a wild pitch after moving to third on a fly out. The Seahawks led 3-0 through the middle of the second, then a one-out single, walk and passed ball had Darrius Brown on third to score the Hawks' first run on an RBI groundout. Steventon left two stranded to hold UMES to the one run.
Neither team scored again until the seventh, with Sutera worked a one-out walk and moved to third on a pair of wild pitches, sent home on a two-out RBI single from junior Dylan Immel. Wagner led 4-1 until the eighth, when the Wagner offense came to life to score late insurance runs.
A leadoff single for McLoughlin put a runner on, then pinch runner Alex Kerr moved to second on an error by the UMES pitcher. Kerr scored from second two pitches later on an RBI single from Alvarez. Torres singled, moved to second on a passed ball then to third on a wild pitch, then scored on another wild pitch. Sutera and Tavarez walked, on base for hot-hitting Mennella, who hit a three-run home run to left field for his second of the weekend. Wagner led 9-1 heading to the middle of the eighth.
Two singles and a hit batter in the eighth had some traffic for Davis, with the Hawks scoring a single run on a sacrifice fly, but a pair of groundouts allowed him to limit the damage. Another pair of singles in the ninth scored the final UMES run of the day, but Davis stranded a pair to end the game. UMES did not record multiple hits in an inning until the eighth.
Next up, the Seahawks play at Hawk Stadium on noon Sunday, looking for their first sweep since April 12 against Norfolk State.
