The St. Thomas Aquinas College baseball team welcomed the dawning of the Provident Bank Park era, but the outcome was one to forget as the Spartans were swept by Nyack College, 5-2 and 5-3 (8 innings). The contests were the season openers for both teams.

Game one started as a pitchers' duel with STAC's Matt Marotta and Nyack's Kevin Earlie each posting blanks over the first three innings. The Warriors pushed a run across in the top of the fourth but the hosts plated their first two runs at their new home stadium in the bottom half, keyed by Efrain Bautista's RBI single.

That lead would hold up until the top of the seventh and final inning. Tom Enright, who had worked a solid sixth inning, suddenly struggled with his control, hitting the first two batters of the frame. An attempted sacrifice that died perfectly on the first base line loaded the bags with nobody out, and the visitors would proceed to plate four runs on just one hit in the frame. Earlie finished what he started for Nyack, allowing just three hits and one earned run in posting the complete game, while Enright was tagged with the loss for STAC.

The second game also got off to a promising start with the hosts jumping to a 2-0 lead in the second frame. Nyack would answer with three in the very next inning, followed by a St. Thomas Aquinas answer in the bottom half to knot the score at 3-3 after three. Once again, the pitchers would take over as the score remained deadlocked through the regulation seven innings, forcing extras. For the second time, it was the Warriors who would find the answer, touching Spartan reliever Ken Frawley for two runs on three hits in the eighth, enough to secure the sweep. Craig Jacobs worked 3.2 innings of hitless relief to take the W for Nyack, while Frawley was saddled with the loss for STAC.

St. Thomas Aquinas will look to rebound in its next games, a twin-bill against UMass-Lowell this Sunday, February 26. They will return home in search of their first victory at Provident Bank Park when Bloomfield College pays a call on Tuesday, February 28, with first pitch scheduled for 3:00 pm.

If you can't make it to the stadium live, be sure to follow all the action of each and over Spartan home game with our new Live Stats feature - just click on the appropriate link on the schedule page.