The St. Thomas Aquinas College baseball team captured the East Coast Conference Championship with a 9-1 victory over the University of Bridgeport in Brookhaven, NY. STAC lost the first game and then took four straight to earn the title. Kenny Kirshner had a double and two triples to lead the attack as the Spartans improved to 39-12, with Bridgeport's season ending at 22-26.
STAC, which saw it's 13-game winning streak snapped in their loss to Bridgeport to start the tourney, has now taken 17-of-18 and 23-of-25 games overall. After allowing seven runs in that 7-3 loss, STAC pitching yielded just five runs - only two earned - over the final four games.
With St. Thomas Aquinas taking the morning contest by a 6-2 count, both teams returned to the field for the final game of the tourney. STAC's Rob Frank and Bridgeport's Shaun Hancock, who squared off just two days ago, took the hill for their respective teams.
After both teams went down in order, the Spartans took charge in the bottom of the second inning, starting with ECC Player-of-the-Year Mike Russo's league-leading 11th homer followed by Kirshner's first triple of the day. He would score on Efrian Bautista's single to put the top seed up a pair.
Frank completed four strong inning, allowing just two hits while fanning seven before giving way to the bullpen. STAC added a run in the fourth on a familiar combination of a Kirshner triple and a Bautista single to make it 3-0.
Bridgeport answered with a run in the fifth off reliever Jon Scott, with Jesse Solar picking up a single, stealing second, and scoring on Bryan Kondor's double. That was as close as the #4 seed would get, however, with the Spartans answering quickly in the bottom half.
Andrew Romanella started things with a leadoff single, and moved to third on Frank Salerno's one-out single. Nick Barbalato's sac fly would score Romanella, with Salerno advancing on the throw. That would be a big extra base when Stanley Susana followed with an RBI single, giving STAC a 5-1 lead and knocking Hancock from the box.
Scott would work two more strong innings, keeping the Purple Knights off the board until the bats could put the game away with a four-run seventh, aided by a pair of Bridgeport errors. Salerno reached on an error and scored on a Susana triple. After a walk to Russo, Kirshner's double plated Susana and Russo, and Bautista's third hit would also be his third RBI of the game, with Kirshner coming in to provide a comfortable 9-1 margin.
Dan Diaz came on to work a scoreless eighth and ninth, allowing just one hit and not being threatened.
Scott was credited wiith the victory to improve to 5-0 on the season, with Hancock falling to 5-4 with the loss. STAC pitching combined for 11 strikeouts while holding the Purple Knights to just three hits.
St. Thomas Aquinas takes the automatic bid to the NCAA Division II Tourmanent, the first in the program's history. The Spartans were ranked #3 in the East Region in the final NCAA regular-season poll and #22 in the country by the NCBWA. They will now await the site, dates and opponents for the NCAAs, which will be posted when available.