The St. Thomas Aquinas College baseball team accounted for a number of accomplishments in its sweep of an East Coast Conference double-header against Queens College, 14-3 and 4-0, at Provident Bank Park. With the wins, STAC improves to 30-11 overall, 18-5 in the ECC, with Queens falling to 13-23, 8-11.
It was a day of achievement for St. Thomas Aquinas; with their victories today, the Spartans:
- Clinched the regular-season championship and the top seed for the ECC Tournament for the second straight season.
- Hit the 30-win plateau for the second time ever - and the second in as many seasons.
- Won their eighth straight game overall, and 14th in their last 15.
- Won their 12th straight East Coast Conference game.
All in a day's work. And that was just the team accomplishments.
After prevailing in a back-and-forth contest at Queens the day before, the Spartans took full advantage of their home turf, jumping on the Knights from the outset of game one. Frank Salerno and Nick Barbalato singled to start the home first - with Barbalato's single being his 200th career hit. Salerno would put STAC in front on a Ken Kirshner RBI grounder.
Starter Joe DePool would get as much run support as he would need in a five-run second inning, with Salerno, Kirshner, and Stanley Susana driving in runs and Mike Russo providing the big blow by adding two RBIs to his league-leading total with a double.
Queens would battle back for a pair in the third, but there would be no drama in this one, as the Spartans sent 13 batters to the plate in the third, posting eight runs on eight hits with the benefit of a couple of Knights' miscues. Nick D'Angelo's two-run single capped off the hit parade, and DePool would cruise to a complete game victory, running his season record to 6-1. Russo was 3-for-3 with three RBI, and Salerno and Efrain Bautista scored three times each as St. Thomas Aquinas took over with a 15-hit attack.
While game two was more reserved, the Spartans had every reason to feel confident with fantastic freshman Rob Naughton on the hill. The righty would fire blanks in the first two innings and give his hitters the chance to take over, and that they did in the bottom of the second.
Kirshner continued to swing the hot bat, singling to lead off before stealing second and third and coming in on a Bautista single. He would eventually come home on a Rich Baerga double, and Salerno would put STAC up by a three-spot with an RBI single later in the inning.
Bautista's RBI single in the third was more than enough run support for Naughton, who held Queens in check on just five hits in tossing the seven-inning shutout to improve to 5-0 on the campaign. A solid contender for conference Rookie-of-the-Year honors, Naughton lowered his season ERA to an impressive 1.63.
STAC will close out the series - and their regular-season schedule, at Queens tomorrow in a noon start. The Spartans will have a bye next weekend, when the rest of the conference schools will finish their slate to determine tournament participants and seedings. St. Thomas Aquinas will return to Provident Bank Park on Tuesday, April 30, for a non-conference tilt against Bloomfield College starting at 3:00 pm.
ECC Standings (thru games of April 27)
W L Pct GB Gms Rem
ySt. Thomas Aquinas 18 5
.783 ----- 1
Dowling College 12 7 .632 4.0 5
Molloy College 11 7 .611 4.5 6
Univ of Bridgeport 10 8 .556 5.5 6
Queens College 8 11 .421 8.0 5
LIU-Post 5 14 .263 11.0 5
zMercy College 4 16 .200 12.5 4
y = clinched regular-season championship
x = clinched ECC Tournament berth
z = eliminated from ECC Tournament contention
Saturday 4/27
@ St. Thomas Aquinas 14, Queens 3
@ St. Thomas Aquinas 4, Queens 0
@ Dowling 1, LIU-Post 0
@ Dowling 3, LIU-Post 2
Bridgeport 5, @ Molloy 2
@ Molloy 2, Bridgeport 0
Mercy bye
Sunday 4/28
St. Thomas Aquinas @ Queens, 12:00
Dowling @ LIU-Post, 12:00
Molloy @ Bridgeport (2), 2:00
Mercy bye