BRIDGEPORT, Conn. - The Sacred Heart baseball team came from behind with two runs in the sixth inning of game one for a 6-5 victory before falling in extra innings 4-3 in game two against Wagner on Saturday at Harbor Yard. The first win snapped a stretch of eight losses in nine games, and momentarily brought the Pioneers to .500 in the Northeast Conference before the loss dropped them back down to 9-10 and 16-28-1 overall. Wagner ends the day second in the NEC standings at 13-6 and is now 25-18-1 overall.

Game One

Trailing 5-4 entering the bottom of the sixth, it was Jesus Medina driving in the game-winning run on an infield single to the third baseman. Cody Doyle led the inning off by getting hit by a pitch, and after Alex Perry came on to pinch run, Ted Shaw sacrificed him over to second with a bunt. That is when one of four Wagner errors would come back to haunt them, as Keaton Flint's grounder was mishandled allowing Perry to come around and tie the game. Following a pitching change, Jayson Sullivan singled on the first pitch he saw to put runners on the corner with one out for Medina. Dan Wertz secured the victory with a 1-2-3 seventh, his third straight scoreless inning in relief, for his third win of the year.

Both Sullivan and Flint had two hits and a RBI for SHU. Flint came around to score twice as well. Shaw, Medina, and Doyle all drove in one, while Victor Sorrento, PJ DeFIlippo, and Anthony Capozziello each scored. Wertz allowed just one base runner in his three innings and also struck out two. He had relieved Jason Foley, who threw four innings, giving up four earned runs on seven hits, three walks, and a hit by pitch.

Nick Dini provided three RBI's for Wagner, going 2-3 including a two run home run in the third that put the Seahawks up 5-3. Ben Ruta scored twice. Starter Matt Morris got through just three innings, but only one of the four runs he let up was earned. He allowed just three hits but walked four. Nick Pavia took the loss after 2.1 innings in which he gave up just one earned run on one hit and walk. Steve Bloodworth got the final two outs but not before Medina delivered his game winning single. 

Both teams produced three run innings early. It was the Seahawks first, as they took the early lead in their first at bat. Foley came out with control issues, walking the first two batters. He shook that off to induce a potential double play ball, but an error loaded the bases with none out. Dini made the Pioneers pay, driving in the first run of the game on a single to right field. A groundout by Tommy Mazurkiewicz was the first out but brought in another run for a 2-0 lead. The advantage became three when Anthony Godino hit a grounder to first base down the line and avoided the tag to reach first. Foley did well to limit the damage for there, striking out the next two to put an end to the threat.

The Pioneers did not take long to answer, as they came back with three of their own in the second. Once again they took advantage of an error, this one to leadoff the inning, as Anthony Capozziello then walked to set up a sacrifice situation for Cody Doyle, who moved the runners to second and third. Shaw gave Sacred Heart its first run with a sacrifice fly to left field before two consecutive RBI singles by Flint and Sullivan tied the game.

Ben Ruta singled to lead off the third before Dini's two run home run gave the Seahawks the lead right back.  SHU answered with a run of their own in the bottom half, as two straight walks and a sacrifice bunt by DeFIlippo put runners on second and third with one away. Wagner was able to get the second out, but Doyle came through with the two out RBI single to get the Pioneers within one.

Game Two 

Trailing going into the sixth for a second time on the afternoon, again Sacred Heart scored two, this time to tie the game. Zack Short walked with one out before advancing to third on a single by Sorrento. Again Bloodworth was brought in, and again on the first pitch he threw Shaw roped his third hit of the day to right field to score Short. Pinch-hitting, DeFilippo got down in the count 0-2, but did a good job at fighting off a low breaking ball to tie the game with a RBI groundout to second. SHU had a chance to take the lead with a runner on second, but Bloodworth kept the game tied by getting the next hitter to fly out.

In his seventh inning of work, Medina produced a 1-2-3 top half to give the Pioneers an opportunity to win it in the bottom half. Flint got on with a one out single and after a second out, Medina worked a base on balls to put runners on first and second. Again with a runner in scoring position and two outs, Bloodworth worked his way out of the trouble with yet another fly out.

Wagner would take advantage in the eight with Nick Mascelli blooping a single over the first basemen to lead off the inning. Ruta followed that with a single through the right side that moved Mascelli up to third. This allowed Dini's fly out to right to bring Mascelli in for the 4-3 lead. A walk by the next hitter would be the end of the day for Medina, who gave way to Matt Cooney. Cooney's first batter singled on the first pitch he saw to load the bases with one out. Cooney bared down to make sure Sacred Heart would only be down one, striking the next hitter out before a lineout sent the game to the bottom half. The Pioneers could not get anything going though, as Bloodworth retired them 1-2-3 for the doubleheader split.

Shaw had three of SHU's six hits, finishing 3-4 with a run and RBI. Sorrento and Dan Schock had a hit and RBI each. Medina pitched 7.1 innings, scattering eight hits and three walks while allowing three earned.

Max Schmardel started for the Seahawks and was cruising until running into trouble in the sixgth, finishing with a final line of 5.1 innings and three earned on four hits. Bloodworth allowed just two hits in the final 2.2 scoreless innings. Ruta and Godino each had three hits and a RBI, while Mascelli went 2-4 with two runs. Dini drove in two.

This time it was SHU who led first, with doubles by Shaw and Schock generating the first run of the game in the second. Wagner came right back with two of its own in the third, as Dan Wasilick led off with a walk and was sacrificed to second. Mascelli singled to put runners on first and third for Ruta, who tied the game with a single. Dini then gave the Seahawks the lead with a RBI fielders choice, scoring Mascelli, who had advanced to third on Ruta's single. Wagner added insurance in the sixth. Taking advantage of an error, Dini came around to score after a sacrifice bunt and Godino single.

The two teams will wrap up their four game series tomorrow at 1 pm at Harbor Yard. Prior to the start of the game, Sacred Heart will honor the seven members of the SHU baseball class of 2015: Kenny Byram, Matt Charmello, James Cooksey, Keaton Flint, Robbie Maguire, Jeff Stoddard, and Dan Wertz. The ceremony will begin at 12:45.