The St. Thomas Aquinas College baseball team struggled in the opener of the East Coast Conference Tournament, falling to #4 seed University of Bridgeport, 7-3, at Dowling Field. The Spartans will play #2 Dowling tomorrow in the double-elimination format. The loss snapped STAC's winning streak at 13 games and dropped their season mark to 35-12.

Spartans starter Rob Frank found himself locked in a duel with Bridgeport's Shaun Hancock early on. After no-hitting the Purple Knights in his previous outing, it was Frank who found himself working out of jams in the second and third innings before settling in. Meanwhile, Hancock retired the first eight STAC batters before Rich Baerga's two-out single in the third, but he was left stranded.

That would change quickly in the bottom of the fourth when Nick Barbalato would lead off with a triple deep to left center and Stanley Susana's single got the Spartans on the board first. STAC threatened again in the fifth on Derek Hirsch's one-out double, but Hancock would keep the score at 1-0 through five.

Bridgeport would take the lead for good in the sixth, utilizing three hits and a big error to push across three runs, two unearned, against Frank. STAC threatened in the bottom half, loading the bases with just one out, but Hancock found a way to escape damage yet again.

Wildness would prove the Spartans undoing in the big eighth inning rally for Bridgeport, as Frank and reliever Brian Tompkins combined to allow two walks, three hit batters, and one big two-RBI single with two outs to give the Purple Knights a comfortable 7-1 cushion.

That would turn out to be a key point in the game as STAC would stage a rally in the ninth, pushing across two runs and bringing the tying run to the plate but Susana's bid for a game-tying homer came up just short to end the afternoon.

The double-eliminiation tournament continues tomorrow at Dowling Field, with the Spartans facing #2 seed and host Dowling, with the loser facing eliminiation from the tourney.