The St. Thomas Aquinas College baseball team took an 8-0 East Coast Conference victory at LIU-Post. Rob Frank, who was named the National Pitcher-of-the-Week by d2baseballnews.com, tossed a four-hit shutout for the win as the Spartans improved to 23-11 overall, 12-5 in the ECC. With the loss, Post dropped to 13-18, 5-8.
Earlier in the day, Spartans received the news that Frank - last week's Pitcher-of-the-Week in the ECC - was named National PotW by d2baseballnews.com on the strength of his one-hit, 15-strikeout shutout over Mercy College last Friday. That came just two weeks after his no-hitter against the University of Bridgeport.
Once again, the junior righty was handed the ball to start a conference weekend set and he needed to be strong early, trading zeroes with Post's Chris Anderson through three innings. STAC broke through in the fourth when Stephen Sunday's two-out single plated Mike Russo with the game's first run.
They would add another in the fifth on Nick Barbalato's single, bringing home Rich Baerga. Frank would remain in command and that narrow 2-0 advantage would hold up through seven innings, before the Spartans opened up some breathing room late. Mike Russo continued to wield the hot bat with an RBI single as the Pioneers contribued a couple of unearned runs, opening a 5-0 gap.
Russo would put the icing on the cake in the ninth with his league-leading fifth home run, a three-run shot that would provide the final margin. It was much more than needed for Frank, who worked his longest stint of the season, a nine-inning complete game, scattering four hits while walking none and striking out 11.
Frank's numbers have been nothing short of stunning of late. Over his past four outings, he is 3-1 with a miniscule 0.62 earned run average, allowing just two earned runs on nine hits in 29 innings of work, striking out 42 while walking 11. In his last two wins, he has tossed 16 scoreless frames, allowing five hits and walking two while striking out 26 opposition hitters.
His loss was a complete-game in a 2-1 setback at Molloy in which he allowed just four hits, and including that game his current scoreless innings streak stands at 22.2 innings - all in conference play.
Not to be overlooked is Russo's offensive outburst, with two hits, four RBI and three runs scored. The home run was his fifth in the past 11 games, and he has knocked in 23 runs over his past 12 contests. Stanley Susana and Rich Baerga added two hits each for the visitors.
The weekend series contines at Provident Bank Park tomorrow, April 20, as Post pays a call for a twin-bill starting at 11:00 am. The fourth and final game of the set moves back to Long Island on Sunday, April 21.
East Coast Conference Standings (thru 4/19/13)
St. Thomas Aquinas 12-5 (---GB)
Molloy College 10-6 (1.5 GB)
Univ of Bridgeport 8-6 (2.5 GB)
Dowling College 7-6 (3.0 GB)
Queens College 7-6 (3.0 GB)
LIU-Post 5-8 (5.0 GB)
Mercy College 3-15 (9.5 GB)