The St. Thomas Aquinas College baseball team fell to a 3-0 defeat in an East Coast Conference contest at the University of Bridgeport. The loss was the third straight for the Spartans, who slip to 8-10 overall and 1-3 in conference play while Bridgeport improves to 6-14, 3-1 in winning the series.

Bridgeport scored all the runs they would need in the home second, as Vincent DeRubeis led off with a single, stole second, moved to third on an error, and scored on Patrick Palmer's sac fly. The Purple Knights added two more in the fourth when Alex Rauso singled and came around on a two-run homer by DeRubeis, accounting for all of the afternoon's scoring.

STAC starter TJ Gregory turned in a solid start, allowing just two earned runs over 6.2 innings but the struggling Spartans offense had no answer for UB starter Chris Martucci, who scattered five hits in throwing the complete-game shutout. STAC did bring the tying run to the plate in the ninth but couldn't break the seal as Martucci worked out of the jam.

ECC Rookie of the Week Andrew Jemison stayed hot at the plate, going 2-for-3 while Gregory dropped to 1-1 in absorbing the loss.

The Spartans return to action on Tuesday, March 25, traveling to face Bloomsburg University before returning to ECC play with a four-game weekend series against LIU Post. The Pioneers will host single games on Friday and Sunday, wrapped around a Saturday 1:00 pm double-header at Palisades Credit Union Park.