The St. Thomas Aquinas College baseball team prevailed, 1-0, at Dowling College in a 16-inning marathon. Rich Baerga's sac fly plated Nick D'Angelo with the only run, as six STAC pitchers combined for the 7-hit shutout. The Spartans took three of four games in the East Coast Conference weekend series, all of which were played at Dowling due to unplayable field conditions at Provident Bank Park. STAC improves to 11-6, 3-1 with the Golden Lions dropping to 5-11, 1-3.
Dowling starter JJ Bessell and STAC's Robert Naughton set the tempo early on, with each firing blanks through the first five innings. Naughton saw the opposing leadoff hitter reach base in five of the six innings he started, but worked his way out of multiple jams. After the first two batters reached in the bottom of the sixth, Naughton yielded to Mike Roestenberg, making his first appearance of the season a good one in working out of the jam, thanks to a strong throw home by centerfielder Nick Barbalato on an attempted tag on a fly ball.
Meanwhile, Bessell kept the Spartans in check, allowing just four hits and one walk before turning the ball over to Robert Rose with one out in the top of the 10th. Roestenberg tossed two scoreless frames before giving way to Brian Tompkins, who added three more goose eggs, with Ken Kirshner adding another.
Dan Diaz worked three strong innings out of the Spartan pen, while Ryan Aloise hurled zeroes for the hosts into the 16th inning. Nick D'Angelo, who entered the game as a defensive replacement, doubled into the left field corner leading off and advanced on an Andrew Romanella single. Baerga, also a late substitution, followed with a sac fly to center, scoring the day's only marker. STAC threatened further with bases loaded and two down, but Ken Kirshner's full-count drive was reeled in deep in the right-center field gap to end the threat.
Jon Scott picked up the win in relief with two dominant innings, facing all six Dowling batters he faced. Spartan pitchers were successful in securing the big outs, stranding 17 Golden Lions over the course of the game, while the Spartans had nine men left on base. Aloise gave up just the one run in five innings for the tough loss and the marathon that took just under five hours to complete.
St. Thomas Aquinas returns to action Tuesday, March 26, hosting Bloomfield College in a 3:00 pm start at Provident Bank Park, conditions permitting.