The St. Thomas Aquinas College baseball team swept a double-header from Concordia College, 7-1 and 18-1, at Provident Bank Park. The Spartans have now won 12 straight and 18-of-19 games overall, and tied their season wins record, set last season, in improving to 34-11 while Concordia fell to 22-21-1.
STAC jumped in front early in game one on Nick Barbalato's triple, followed by Stanley Susana's single. Concordia responded quickly with a run in the second off Rob Frank, would would be in control thereafter.
A four-run second inning would provide all the support Frank would need, with the Spartans rapping out five hits in the frame. Rich Baerga broke the tie with a two-RBI double, and Barbalato and Susana would each follow with RBI knocks to make the score 5-1.
Susana's double in the fifth was his third hit of the game, and he would score on a Ken Kirshner hit. Kirshner himself would come in on an Efrian Bautista sac fly to round out the scoring, and Frank allowed just four hits while fanning seven in the seven-inning complete-game. Derek Hirsch also added three hits in the 14-hit attack.
In game two, the visitors would grab a quick 1-0 lead off starter Nick May with a pair of hits in the first, but STAC would waste little time in roughing up a handful of Clipper hurlers. Timely Spartan hitting and shaky Concordia fielding contributed to the hosts posting three in the first inning, five more in the second, and another in the third to build a 9-1 cushion.
Susana remained hot with a two-run double to key the second inning rally, and Hirsh drove in another pair with a single. Kirshner continued the theme with an RBI single in the third. Stephen Sunday gave the Clippers little cause for hope with a leadoff homer in the fourth, and when all was said and done five more runs had crossed the plate to open a 14-1 lead.
May settled in nicely, allowing just two hits in four innings after his tough first, and Mike Russo's three-run blast would cap the scoring. The homer was Russo's ninth of the season and ran his RBI total to 52. Joe Grimaldi cleaned up with a pair of scoreless innings, with May taking the win to improve to 2-2. Ten different Spartans got into the hit column, contributing to the 16-hit onslaught.
The Spartans play their regular-season finale tomorrow, Saturday, May 4, in a non-conference match-up against Dominican College. Senior Day festivities will begin at 11:30 am, with first pitch of the single game starting at noon. STAC has a bye in conference play this weekend, and has already clinched the top seed in the East Coast Conference Tournament, which begins this week.