The St. Thomas Aquinas College baseball team rallied in the nightcap to sweep the double-header and the four-game East Coast Conference series against LIU-Post, 9-4 and 4-3 at Provident Bank Park. STAC has now won nine-of-10 games overall, improving to 26-11, 15-5, with Post dropping to 13-21, 5-11.
After losing the first two games of the series on their home field, Post looked to return the favor, posting a run in the first off starter Joe DePool. The Pioneers' first lead of the series would be short-lived, as the Spartans quickly answered back with three in each of their first two innings of work.
Frank Salerno, Nick Barbalato and Stanley Susana all recorded singles to load the bases before a batter was retired, and Mike Russo tied the score with a sac fly. Seemingly about to escape further damage, the visitors were victimized by their fielding, as Ken Kirshner's fly ball was dropped, turning the potential final out into a pair of go-ahead runs.
STAC kept swinging in the next frame, and yet another Post error opened the door to three more unearned Spartan runs and a 6-1 lead after two. The Pioneers had scored just one run in the first two games, but rallied to get back into this one with three runs on four hits against DePool in the fourth to trim the lead to 6-4.
Post would threaten in the fifth with a leadoff double, only to see Brian Tompkins come out of the pen to escape the jam. Dan Diaz would start the sixth but had trouble finding the plate, recording two outs but walking the bases full. The stage was set for the call to the pen, where CJ Ferriggi continued his magic, quelling the uprising with a fly out to end the inning.
St. Thomas Aquinas would put it out of reach with another three-spot in the eighth, with Russo's RBI single and Kirshner's two-run double providing more then enough support for Ferriggi, who has still yet to yield a run this season while picking up his seventh save.
DePool improved to 5-1 with the win, moving into a tie for the league lead in that category, while Salerno and Barbalato contributed with a pair of hits each. Post's starter Mike Eckerle had allowed just two runs (one earned) over his previous 33.1 innings of work before being tagged with nine against (four earned) on nine hits over six innings.
Post's other top-notch starter, Bo Budkevics, took the hill in game two and his team provided him with some support early, pushing across two in the first and another in the third against Eric Cooper. Budkevics had allowed just one single through three tidy innings of work, and looked to be in command, but again the visitors' defense would open the door and the Spartans would charge through.
With two out and one on in the fifth, Susana reached on a errant throw on what would have been the last out, allowing Barbalato to score. Efrain Bautista made the error hurt with an RBI double, and Stephen Sunday added to the pain with a game-tying single.
Cooper would keep Post at bay, battling through 4.2 innings before turning the ball over to Jon Scott, who kept the game tied through the middle of the sixth. Once again finding a way, the Spartans would scratch out another run in the sixth, after two were out with nobody on. Susana walked, stoled second and moved to third on a throwing error before Bautista rapped what proved to be the game-winning single through the middle.
Nick May would come on for the ninth, and after issuing a lead-off walk, would eventually induce a game-ending double-play ball. Scott picked up the win to improve to 3-0 with May earning his first save. Barbalato added two more hits, and Bautista recorded a pair as well
Late in game two, STAC was informed that they had completed the big sweep of the week, capturing all three ECC Weekly Honors. Mike Russo took his second straight Player of the Week, rapping out a pair of homers and 11 RBI in five games; Rob Frank took his third conference award after his nine-inning shutout at Post on Friday; and Rob Naughton was cited as Rookie of the Week after allowing just one run in eight innings in the win at Post on Sunday. STAC also retained the #5 ranking in the East in the d2baseballnews.com weekly poll.
The Spartans return to action on Wednesday, April 22, when they play a "road" game against Dominican College at Provident Bank Park before kicking off their final ECC series of the regular season on Friday at Queens College.
ECC Standings (thru games of April 22)
W L Pct GB Gms Rem
St. Thomas Aquinas 15 5 .750 ----- 4
Molloy College 10 6 .625 3.0 8
Univ of Bridgeport 9 7 .562 4.0 8
Dowling College 9 7 .562 4.0 8
Queens College 8 8 .500 5.0 8
LIU-Post 5 11 .312 8.0 8
zMercy College 4 16 .200 11.0 4
z = eliminated from ECC Tournament contention
Weekend of 4/26 (all four-game series)
St. Thomas Aquinas vs. Queens
Bridgeport vs Molloy
Dowling vs LIU-Post
Mercy bye
Weekend of 5/2 (all four-game series)
St. Thomas Aquinas bye
LIU-Post vs Bridgeport
Dowling vs Mercy
Queens vs Molloy