The St. Thomas Aquinas College baseball team utilized strong pitching for an East Coast Conference sweep at Mercy College, 6-0 and 2-0. Rob Frank fanned 15 in a one-hitter in the opener, with five pitchers combining in the nightcap as the Spartans improved to 20-10 overall and 8-5 in conference, with Mercy falling to 6-25-1, 3-11.

Just two weeks after tossing a no-hitter in a conference battle against Bridgeport, Frank was dealing yet again. After a shaky start - which included a hit batter and a walk in the first inning - the righthander settled in and began mowing down Mavericks.

STAC got on the board in the top of the third when Rich Baerga singled and eventually came home on a Mike Apreda sacrifice fly. That was the only run the Spartans would need, though they would break the contest open with four runs in the top of the fourth.

Nick Barbalato led off the inning with a ground rule double and promptly stole third. After Stanley Susana was hit by a pitch, Mike Russo doubled in both runners to put the Spartans up 3-0. He would come home on an Efrain Bautista single, and Rich Baerga's triple brought Bautista all the way around for a 5-0 STAC edge.

Jesus Jaile's double for the Mavericks in the fourth ended the no-hit suspense, but the rest was in good hands, as Frank recorded all 15 of his strikeouts over the first six innings, all but three of Mercy's outs to that point. Stanley Susana's sac fly in the seventh plated the final run, and Frank would retire the side in order, having allowed just two walks and the one hit over the seven-inning complete-game masterpiece.

Game two would provide a similar story, as the Spartans broke on top in the second inning when Ken Kirshner had the first of three straight hits, coming around on Derek Hirsch's single to put the visitors ahead.

Kirshner would again get the ball rolling in the fourth inning with a leadoff single and come all the way around to score when Efrain Bautista followed with a double. That 2-0 hole would look like a canyon to the struggling Mercy offense, as starter Eric Cooper was strong through three hitless innings but ran into trouble in the fourth, walking the first two batters faced. Brian Tompkins would come on and escape the jame with the help of a caught stealing and an inning-ending double-play ball.

With the bullpen-by-committee in effect, Nick May, Dan Diaz and CJ Ferriggi would keep the Mavs off balance, working a scoreless inning each to secure the win. Tompkins was credited with the victory while Ferriggi picked up his fourth save of the season, his second since returning from injury.

Game three of the four game series shifts to Provident Bank Park tomorrow, April 14, with a 4:00 start, followed by the finale on Monday at 3:30, also at PBP.