March 21, 2008

Rock Hill, SC - After three tough losses to No. 16 UCF the Wagner Seahawks will look to resume their winnings ways when they head to the Palmetto State to square off with perennial Big South power Winthrop in an Easter Weekend four-game set. The two teams will play four single games, starting tonight at 6 pm.

This will mark the culmination of Wagner's annual spring break trip. The Green & White fell in three games to UCF, which leads the nation with 19 wins.

Despite getting shut out in game one, the Seahawks managed to limit the Golden Knights to just six runs, five earned, on nine hits. The freshmen duo of LHP Jack Rice (Middlesex, NJ / Immaculata) and RHP Ian Karlsson (Brooklyn, NY / Xaverian) surrendered just one earned run over 5.0 innings of relief. Rice has not allowed an earned run over his first 10.1 collegiate innings, spanning three games.

In game two, the story was sophomore RHP Kyle Morrison (Middlesex, NJ / Immaculata). Morrison was in midseason form against one of the top offenses in the country, striking out eight over seven strong innings while yielding just three runs on five hits. He so dominated the Golden Knights that their legendary coach Jay Bergman remarked that Morrison shut down its offense better then anyone else this year. The Garden State native has now fanned 16, against only two walks, over his previous 13.0 innings. Morrison exited the game down only 3-1 before the bullpen allowed UCF to tack on two runs in the eighth. Sophomore Joe Conforti (Staten Island, NY / Farrell) led the offense going 2-3 with a RBI, stolen base and walk. Wagner had their chances, stranding nine base runners.

Game three was another tough pill to swallow as the Seahawks stranded 13 runners over the course of the game while the Golden Knights scored seven of their runs with two outs. Additionally, five of their runs were by the unearned variety as Wagner fielders committed four costly errors. Senior Joe Testa (Brick, NJ / Brick) pitched a solid game, striking out five, against just two walks, in 7.0 innings of work. The hard-throwing lefty has gone at least six innings in each one of his starts. Sophomore Damian Csakai (Freehold, NJ / Freehold) went 3-5 with a stolen base and a run while setting the table for the offense.

Now on tap for the Green & White is Winthrop. The Eagles come in with a deceiving 5-13 record, losing to nationally ranked St. John's, UNC and Rice. Additionally, Winthrop other losses have come at the hands of traditional powers Kent State, USC, Elon and Charleston.

Winthrop's strength is in the offense, hitting at a .279-clip. Eddie Tisdale paces the Eagles' attack and is hitting .370 with 27 hits. Sophomore Kevin Nolan checks in second with a .360 average and six doubles and 12 RBI. Tony Brunetti is hitting .310 while Billy Froehlich checks in at an even .300 to round out the Winthrop players that are hitting .300 Froelich has a team-best 17 RBI.

Eight different players have started games on the mound for the Eagles as their rotation, like most teams early in the year, is a work in progress. RHP Josh McDonald, who is 2-0 all-time with a miniscule 0.52 ERA over 17.0 career innings against Wagner, has been shifted to the bullpen and is one arm the fans of Seahawks would not want to see late in the game.

Last season, the Green & White captured just their second win ever against Winthrop by a 12-7 count in the second of the two teams' three-game set. Trailing 7-4 after four, the Seahwaks outscored the Eagles 8-0 over the last five innings while completely shutting down a Winthrop-offense that hit .294 as a team for the year. Junior Chris Drechsel (Cranford, NJ / Cranford) led the offense, going 4-5 whil Csakai and sophomore Vin Avella (Matawan, NJ / CBA) each recorded two hits. Drechsel hit .364 over the three games as the Green & White hit .295 as a team.

Junior RHP Andy Wells (Staten Island, NY / St. Peter's) (0-1; 16.88 ERA; 2.2 IP), Rice (1-0; 0.00 ERA; 10.1 IP), sophomore RHP Matt Watson (Howell, NJ / Howell) (1-2; 7.00 ERA; 9.0 IP) and Testa (2-2; 2.42 ERA; 26.0 IP) is the projected four-man rotation for Wagner.

Winthrop will counter with senior RHP Ryan Schwartz (1-2; 5.94 ERA; 16.2 IP), freshman LHP Hamilton Bennett (0-4; 8.44 ERA; 21.1 IP) and senior LHP Ryan Mullins (0-0; 4.35 ERA; 10.1 IP). Game four's starter has yet to be announced. Schwartz started Wagner's game-two win a year ago and exited after yielding nine hits and seven runs over 4.1 innings.

Notes
• Wagner is just 2-12 all-time against Winthrop with one of those wins coming last year.

• Head coach Joe Litterio has faced the Eagles in six of his eight seasons at the helm of Wagner, going 1-8.

• Litterio assisted at Winthrop during the 1999 season, helping the Eagles to 40 wins and a trip to the NCAA Tournament.

• This marks the third-straight year that Winthrop's basketball team played in the NCAA Tournament while the Seahawks were in town.

• The Eagles lost in the first round to Washington State yesterday.

• Since allowing a combined 43 runs in its first three games, Wagner has yielded just 37 over its last seven.

• Testa had a solid outing in tough 3-1 game-three loss, striking out five over 7.0 innings while yielding just three runs, two earned.

• After his performance at UCF, Testa has thrown 235.0 career innings, just three away from third-place, and has a school-record 253 strikeouts.

• After hitting .287 during their three-game winning streak, Wagner batted just .160 as a team in their three losses in Orlando.

• Game times for this weekend are Friday (6 pm), Saturday (4 pm), Sunday (3 pm) and Monday (4 pm).