The St. Thomas Aquinas College baseball team saw Molloy College post 12 runs in the seventh inning en route to an 18-9 decision at Provident Bank Park. George Wargo led the way for the Spartans with three runs batted in. STAC falls to 27-14 and 12-5 in the East Coast Conference while Molloy improves to 19-21, 9-9. The Spartans maintain a share of first place in the ECC with Dowling's loss to Bridgeport. They are now tied with CW Post, six percentage points ahead of the Golden Lions in the tightly-contested race.
Please support STAC's efforts in the Wounded Warrior Project!
After falling behind on a pair of unearned runs in the first, STAC battled back with one in the second on a Matt Marotta RBI single, driving in Stanley Susana, who had reached on a titanic double to straightaway center field. They took the lead with two in the third, spurred by a Wargo RBI double. The visitors tied the score with another unearned run in the fourth of Joe Ferrara, but STAC would jump back on top by a 4-3 count on the strength of a perfectly-placed bunt single by Nick Barbalato to drive in a run in the bottom half.
They would extend the lead in the last of the sixth when Wargo doubled in two more with two out, and Mike Russo brought him around with a matching two-bagger to put the Spartans up 7-3.
The wheels could come off in the Molloy seventh, with 15 batters coming to the plate and 12 runs coming across in all, topped off by a Carmine Pelecchia grand slam. Matt Marotta took the loss in relief to drop his record to 6-1, with Molloy reliever Patrick Brown improving to 6-2. Wargo, Susana, Marotta, Barbalato and Frank Salerno picked up two hits each in STAC's 14-hit attack.
The Spartans travel to face Felician College on Friday, April 27, before a three-game weekend set against Mercy kicks off with a twin-bill at Provident Bank Park on Saturday, April 28, at 12:00 noon. The series wraps up with a single game at Mercy on Sunday, April 29.
Note - With his 30th stolen base of the season in the victory over Bridgeport, Frank Salerno passed Jason Pominski for the school's single-season record. He added his 31st with a steal of third base in today's setback.
Please support STAC's efforts in the Wounded Warrior Project!
East Coast Conference Standings (thru 4/24/12)
| School | W | L | Pct | GB |
| St. Thomas Aquinas | 12 | 5 | .706 | 0.5 |
| CW Post | 12 | 5 | .706 | 0.5 |
| xDowling |
14 | 6 | .700 | --- |
| Molloy | 9 | 9 | .500 | 4.0 |
| Queens | 6 | 11 | .353 | 6.5 |
| Bridgeport | 6 | 11 | .353 | 6.5 |
| zMercy | 4 | 16 | .200 | 10.0 |
x = clinched ECC Tournament slot z = eliminated from ECC tournament contention
Remaining ECC Games
Tuesday, April 24
Molloy 18, @ St. Thomas Aquinas 9
CW Post 9, @ Mercy 2
Bridgeport 12, @ Dowling 6
Saturday, April 28
Mercy @ St. Thomas Aquinas (2), 12:00
CW Post @ Molloy (2), 12:00
Bridgeport @ Queens, 12:00
Sunday, April 29
St. Thomas Aquinas @ Mercy, 1:00
Queens @ Bridgeport (2), 1:00
Molloy @ CW Post, 1:00
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 -
Please support STAC's efforts in the Wounded Warrior Project!