The St. Thomas Aquinas College baseball team took a pair of non-conference games at Adelphi University, 8-3 and 7-0. In game one the Spartans rallied from a late deficit and in the nightcap, Rob Frank and CJ Ferriggi combined on a 1-hitter as the Spartans improved to 27-12 overall, while dropping Adelphi to 19-19 on the season.
STAC's winning streak is now one game short of its previous season-high of eight games, and the Spartans have won 13-of-15 overall, standing an impressive 23-7 (.767 percentage) since losing five of their first eight games to start the campaign. They were ranked #5 in the East Region in the first official NCAA Division II Rankings released this week and won all three games played.
Game one saw the Spartan offense, which has been torrid of late, held mostly in check through seven innings. Stephen Sunday's RBI single in the 2nd inning put STAC ahead, but Adelphi answered with a pair in the 5th to take the lead. The Panthers posted an insurance run in the 7th against starter Matt Kostalos, who kept his team within reach but fnished his day with a 3-1 deficit.
STAC's offense would come alive, however, blowing the game open in the final two innings. Stanley Susana got the ball rolling with a one out triple, and scored on Derek Hirsch's single to trim the margin to one. Kenny Kirshner would quickly bring the Spartans even with a run-scoring triple but Nick D'Angelo would pop out for the second out of the inning. Stephen Sunday would not let his team be denied, with a big two out, RBI single to put STAC back on top, and make Kostolos the pitcher of record.
Nick May came on to work a scoreless 8th inning and his teammates would pull away with four runs in their final at bat. With the bases jammed and one down, Rich Baerga came in on a wild pitch and Hirsch brought in another with a sac fly to make the score 6-3. Kirshner followed with his second RBI triple in as many innings and trotted home on D'Angelo's single to round out the scoring, with Brian Tompkins closing out the final frame.
Kirschner led the 15-hit attack with a 4-for-5 performance, while Sunday added three hits and Kostolos improved to 4-1 on the season.
In the nightcap, STAC struck early with four 2nd inning runs on just one hit, starting with Hirsch being hit by a pitch and advancing on a passed ball. Kirshner picked up where he left off, drawing first blood with an RBI single. With the bases loaded and one out, a Panther error opened the door, bringing home two runs before another came home on a Baerga ground out, putting the Spartans in a comfortable 4-0 lead.
Deven Del Priore's RBI single tacked on another in the 3rd, and starter Rob Frank made it clear that would be more than enough. While Hirsch's two-run homer in the 5th accounted for the final runs, STAC's all-time wins leader would do the rest on the hill, allowing just one Adelphi hit over five stellar innings of work, with CJ Ferriggi closing things out with two hitless frames.
While a little off their pace of late, the St. Thomas Aquinas offense continued to impress during this winning streak, now outscoring opponents by an 86-25 margin, banging out 109 hits over the seven games.
The Spartans are now scheduled to be inactive until their regular-season closing East Coast Conference series against Dowling College on May 2-4, though additional games may yet be scheduled. Please check the baseball page for updates.
Note - the double-header scheduled at Concordia College for Sunday, April 27 has been canceled.
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ECC Standings UPDATE
With conference dates dwindling to a precious few, St. Thomas Aquinas and Dowling have now clinched two of the four berths in the upcoming East Coast Conference Tournament. The other weekend results to this point, however, have thrown the standings into nothing short of chaos, with four teams separated by one game in the standings vying for the final two slots.
Dowling has captured the first three games over Mercy, with the finale in Westchester on Sunday, and the Golden Lions have opened a 2.5 game lead over STAC for the top seed. If Dowling wins Sunday, STAC will need to sweep all four games against the Golden Lions next week to finish first. If Mercy wins, the Spartans need to win three of four.
Queens has been eliminated from post-season contention, but otherwise nothing is settled. LIU Post, which split series with both STAC and Dowling, has proceeded to lose a make-up game to Mercy and the first three against Bridgeport to come back to the pack, while elevating the Purple Knights into the thick of the race.
Despite dropping their first three against Dowling, Mercy's win over Post keeps the Mavericks right in the hunt, with a huge four-game set on tap to finish the season against Molloy. In their own right, the Lions have put their fate into their own hands after a slow start, though they did wound their own cause by dropping Friday's series opener at home against Queens in 11 innings, snapping the last-place Knights' 11-game losing streak.
Three more big games are on tap for Sunday, April 27, but regardless of the results, the post-season slate for the East Coast Conference Tournament will not be determined until the teams take the field next weekend, with each series having major implications.
ECC Standings (thru games of Saturday, April 26)
W L Pct GB Gms Rem
xDowling College 16 3 .842 ----- 5
xSt. Thomas Aquinas 14 6
.700 2.5 4
Univ of Bridgeport 11 12 .478 7.0 1
Molloy College 9 10 .474 7.0 5
LIU-Post 8 11 .421 8.0 5
Mercy College 8 11 .421 8.0 5
zQueens College 3 16 .158 13.0 5
x - clinched ECC Tournament berth
z - eliminated from ECC Tournament contention
Wednesday 4/24
Mercy 12, @ LIU-Post 8
Friday 4/25
St. Thomas Aquinas bye week
@ Bridgeport 5, LIU Post 0
Dowling 7, @ Mercy 0
Queens 4, @ Molloy 2 (11)
Saturday 4/26
St. Thomas Aquinas bye week
Bridgeport 1, @ LIU Post 0
Bridgeport 7, @ LIU Post 4
@ Dowling 2, Mercy 1
@ Dowling 7, Mercy 1
Molloy 10, @ Queens 3
Molloy 3, @ Queens 1
Sunday 4/27
St. Thomas Aquinas bye week
LIU-Post @ Bridgeport, 3:30
Dowling @ Mercy, 12:00
Queens @ Molloy, 12:00
Friday 5/2
Bridgeport bye week
Dowling @ St. Thomas Aquinas, 3:30
Molloy @ Mercy, 2:00 pm
LIU Post @ Queens, 3:00 pm
Saturday 5/3
Bridgeport bye week
St. Thomas Aquinas @ Dowling (2), 12:00
Mercy @ Molloy, 12:00
Queens @ LIU Post, 12:00
Sunday 5/4
Bridgeport bye week
Dowling @ St. Thomas Aquinas, 1:00
Molloy @ Mercy, 12:00
LIU Post @ Queens, 12:00
End of Regular Season