Bulldogs drop regular-season finale to Wagner on Saturday

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. – Seniors Colin Walsh (Tewksbury, Mass.) and Matt Dowd (South Kingstown, R.I.) each contributed two hits as the Bryant University baseball team dropped its regular-season finale to Wagner, 5-3, on Saturday afternoon at Richmond County Bank Ballpark.

The Bulldogs (26-23, 17-7 NEC) will now set their sights on another Northeast Conference tournament title as they will be the No. 1 seed this week in Norwich, Conn. The Seahawks (27-21-1, 15-9) will be the No. 2 seed in the tournament.

Wagner got out to a quick start in Saturday's game, using a two-out rally to score three runs. Ben Ruta walked with two outs, advanced to second on a wild pitch and scored on a single from Nick Dini. Tommy Mazurkiewicz then followed with a two-run home run to left to make it 3-0.

The Black and Gold cut into the deficit in the third inning. Dowd picked up his first collegiate hit with a single up the middle and then stole second. Junior Dan Cellucci (Sudbury, Mass.) followed with a single to left but Ruta came up throwing and nabbed Dowd at the plate. Junior Zach Wood (Griswold, Conn.) made sure the Bulldogs got at least one run in the inning as he slapped a double down the right field line to score Cellucci all the way from first to make it 3-1.

Bryant erased the deficit with two more runs in the top of the fifth. Sophomore Joseph Paparelli (Preston, Conn.) worked a leadoff walk, stole second and went to third as Dowd delivered a single up the middle. Cellucci followed with an RBI single to right field to make it a one-run game. A sac bunt and an intentional walk loaded the bases for junior Daniel Palazzo (Rocky Hill, Conn.) and he delivered a game-tying single to left field. Bryant nearly took the lead as Walsh followed with a hard ground ball up the middle but Wagner's Dan Wasilick made a great backhand stop to start an inning-ending 4-6-3 double play.

The Seahawks answered back with single runs in the sixth and seventh to regain the lead. Dini doubled to open the sixth and came around to score on a fly ball to left from Jason Gordon. Wasilick then led off the seventh with a single and scored two batters later on a sac fly from Trey Nicosia.

Freshman Ross Weiner (Woodbridge, Conn.) started for the Bulldogs and pitched well over five-plus innings. He allowed four runs on seven hits, walked two and struck out two in suffering his first loss of the season. Senior Alex Lagos (Wrentham, Mass.) allowed a run in an inning of relief and freshman Justin Snyder (Georgetown, Mass.) pitched two scoreless innings to finish the game.

Walsh, Dowd and Cellucci all finished with two hits, helping the Bulldogs out-hit Wagner, 12-9.

The NEC tournament begins on Thursday at Dodd Stadium in Norwich, Conn. Game time and opponent is still to be determined.