The St. Thomas Aquinas College baseball team picked up a 6-4 victory at Dowling College in their East Coast Conference opener. Kenny Kirshner and Efrain Bautista had four hits each for the Spartans, who improve to 9-5 overall, with Dowling dropping to 4-9.

Dowing jumped on top in their half of the first on Spartan starter Joe DePool, pushing home a run on two hits, but STAC answered quickly, tying the game in the second when Kirshner singled and Bautista brought him in with a triple. The Golden Lions quickly regained the edge with a run in their half of the second, but DePool settled in, allowing the Spartan bats to take over.

STAC grabbed its first lead in the fourth, as Kirshner and Bautista were again the catalysts, with each singling to set the table for Stephen Sunday's two-RBI double to make the score 3-2. Each team plated a run in the fifth, with St. Thomas Aquinas scoring on a Kirshner single, before the Spartans opened some breathing room in the sixth.

After three walks loaded the bases, Stanley Susana converted, with his single to left field bringing in two and staking the visitors to a 6-3 margin. Dowling pushed across a run in the ninth but that was as close as they would get, as Brian Tompkins closed the door to earn his second save.

With the victory, DePool improved to 3-0, allowing just two runs in his six innings of work while Tompkins yielded one run over his three innings. Susana added three hits for the Spartans, who rapped out 12 hits on the afternoon.

STAC returns to Long Island to play two games tomorrow - originally scheduled as STAC home games - and finishes the weekend set at Dowling Field on Sunday.