The St. Thomas Aquinas College baseball team started their East Coast Conference schedule in style, coming from behind to win the opener, 5-4 and dominating the nightcap, 17-0 at Provident Bank Park. The Spartans have now won three straight to improve to 14-8 overall, and 2-0 in ECC play while the Golden Lions fall to 12-9, 1-2. The visitors entered the day with a six-game winning streak.
Dowling struck early in game one on STAC ace Matt Marotta, putting up four runs in the first. The Golden Lions combined a walk, a hit batter, a Spartan error and three hits - the big stroke being JC Brandmaier's two-run double, to take the early edge.
The Spartans answered quickly with one in the bottom half as George Wargo's two-out single off Dowling starter Tyler Badamo brought in Joe Antenucci with an unearned run. The contest would stay that way until St. Thomas Aquinas, which had struggled on offense since their return from their perfect Florida trip, finally had the alarm go off to wake up the bats in their half of the fifth.
With one out, Frank Salerno got the ball rolling with a walk. Andrew Romanella then grounded back to the mound, but with Salerno going on the pitch the Spartans avoided the double-play, which was the turning point of the game. With two down and Salerno on second, Joe Antenucci brought his squad to life with an RBI single. George Wargo reached on an infield single but a throwing error on Dowling shortstop Kyle DeMeo allowed Antenucci to come in. After Wargo stole second, Andrew Hancsak singled to bring the Spartans even at 4-4.
Meanwhile, Marotta settled in nicely, hurling blanks over his last 4.2 innings of work before giving way to Ken Frawley. The big righty kept his foes off the board for his 1.1 innings of work and Tim Tedesco scattered three hits over the next three, continuing to keep the Golden Lions in check. STAC was finally able to break through in the 10th when, with the bases jammed and two out, Barbalato's hard hit grounder up the middle couldn't be fielded cleanly, allowing Wargo to come home with the Spartans' first walk-off win at Provident Bank Park. Tedesco picked up the win in relief while DC's Tom Bammann took the loss.
There was not nearly as much drama in store for game two, as the Spartans' rejuvinated attack put up three in the first and added two in the second, never looking back. Everyone got into the act as 13 STAC players belted out a season-high 20 hits, with nine different players driving in runs. Frank Salerno continued his strong performance this season by going 3-for-4 with a walk, four runs scored and three RBI, while Joe Antenucci, Geroge Wargo and Matt Marotta drove in a pair each.
Eric Cooper threw 5.1 scoreless innings to take home the win with Dan Diaz and Jon Scott closing out the shutout in relief. JJ Bessel was the first of three Dowling pitchers to take it on the chin, and was charged with the loss.
These teams conclude their three-game weekend set on Sunday, March 25, when the Spartans travel to Brookville to take on Dowling (note - time change to 1:00 pm), with the fourth and final conference meeting of the teams scheduled for Wednesday, April 18 on Long Island. The teams will play a non-conference tilt at Provident bank Park two days later. STAC returns to action on Tuesday, March 27 when their ECC schedule continues at the University of Bridgeport. The Spartans will host the Purple Knights three days later as UB visits PBP for the first time on Friday, March 30.
Remember, if you can't make it to the park you can follow the Spartans in real time for every home game and select road contests by clicking on the "Live Stats" link (where available) on the team schedule.