The St. Thomas Aquinas College baseball team prevailed at Mercy College, 10-3, to increase it's team-record win total to 30. Mike Russo went 4-for-4 with a home run, as the Spartans also retained a share of first place in the East Coast Conference. STAC is now 30-15 overall and 15-5 in ECC play, with Mercy dropping its 16th straight to fall to 6-35, 4-19. STAC swept all four games in the season series with the Mavericks.
STAC broke on top early with single runs in each of the first two innings. Frank Salerno started the fire with a single and his team-record 34th stolen base of the year, before being doubled in by Nick Barbalato. Russo led off the second with a homer and the visitors were up a pair. It became a 3-0 margin in the fourth when Andrew Hancsak doubled in Russo.
Mercy answered with a pair in the fourth on a Bryan Greig homer, but that was all starter Joe Ferrara would allow in 7.2 strong innings of work. STAC broke the affair open in the seventh with a four-run rally, spurred by Russo's two-RBI single. They added another in the eighth on Barbalato's RBI single, and two more in the ninth on Rich Baerga's two-run double.
Ferrara improved to 2-2 while Greig - who was also the Mavericks' starting pitcher - took the loss to fall to 2-2. Salerno, Barbalato and Andrew Romanella had to hits each, and Joe Antenucci's walk extended his streak to 26 straight games reaching base.
The Spartans are off until traveling to Greenvale for a first-place showdown with CW Post on Wednesday, May 2. They return to Provident Bank Park for a non-conference rematch with Felician College on Friday, May 4, before finishing the regular season with a three-game weekend set against Queens College; a twin-bill in Flushing on Saturday, May 5, and the Senior Day at PBP on Sunday, May 6. First pitch is at 1:00, preceeded by Senior Day festivities.
East Coast Conference Standings (thru
4/29/12)
| School | W | L | Pct | GB |
| xSt. Thomas Aquinas | 15 | 5 | .750 | --- |
| xCW Post | 15 | 5 | .750 | --- |
| xDowling |
14 | 6 | .700 | 1.0 |
| Bridgeport | 9 | 11 | .450 | 6.0 |
| Molloy |
9 | 12 | .429 | 6.5 |
| Queens |
6 | 14 | .300 | 9.0 |
| zMercy | 4 | 19 | .174 | 12.5 |
x = clinched ECC Tournament slot z = eliminated from ECC tournament contention
Remaining ECC Games
Sunday, April 29
St. Thomas Aquinas 10, @ Mercy 3
@ CW Post 7, Molloy 4
@ Bridgeport 12, Queens 2
@ Bridgeport 2, Queens 0
Wednesday, May 2
St. Thomas Aquinas @ CW Post, 3:00
Dowling @ Queens, 3:30
Mercy @ Bridgeport, 5:00
Friday, May 4
Molloy @ Bridgeport (2), 1:00
Saturday, May 5
St. Thomas Aquinas @ Queens (2), 1:00
CW Post @ Dowling (2), 12:00
Sunday, May 6
Queens @ St. Thomas Aquinas, 1:00
Bridgeport @ Molloy, 1:00
Dowling @ CW Post, 1:00
- End Regular Season -