The St. Thomas Aquinas College baseball team started their East Coast Conference schedule with a sweep of the University of Bridgeport, 9-1 and 8-0, at Breslin Field in Lyndhurst, NJ. The win was STAC's fifth straight as the Spartans improved to 8-5 overall and 2-0 in ECC play, with Bridgeport falling to 6-10, 0-2.

In game one, STAC broke open a 3-1 nail-biter with a five-run eighth inning and in a similar setting in the nightcap, the Spartans pushed across seven 9th-inning runs to open up a 1-0 pitchers' duel.

St. Thomas Aquinas broke on top early in game one with a run in the first and two more in the second off Bridgeport starter Brian O'Keefe. CJ Ferriggi brought in Rich Baerga with an unearned marker on a sac fly to open the scoring, and Stephen Sunday's two-run homer an inning later give the Spartans a 3-0 edge.

Casey McCone's RBI single off STAC starter Michael Gonzalez in the 4th brought the Purple Knights to within 3-1. Gonzalez worked five solid innings, allowing just the one run on three hits. James Sanchez worked three scoreless relief innings and Joe Grimaldi added another as the visitors broke the game open off the Bridgeport bullpen in the top of the 8th.

Joe Boland scored on a wild pitch, followed by RBI singles from Nick D'Angelo, Rich Baerga, Ferriggi, and Kenny Kirshner to make the score 8-1. D'Angelo would add another run-scoring hit in the 9th to provide the final margin and improved Gonzalez' record to 2-0 on the season. Baerga remained red-hot at the plate, with four hits and three runs scored.

Game two started as quite the pitchers' duel between Bridgeport's Dakota Edwards and STAC's Matthew Petro. Through four scoreless frames, Edwards allowed just two Sparan hits only to see Petro hold the Purple Knights hitless over that span.

Petro would leave the game after four, however, turning the ball over to Brian Tompkins and the game remained scoreless until the top of the 6th, when Stanley Susana tripled with one out and came home on a wild pitch to put the Spartans on top.

Bridgeport snapped the no-hitter in the last of the 6th when Jesse Solar reached on an infield hit and an error with one down, but was effectively stranded by Tompkins. Edwards turned the ball over after six innings, with Ray Kreiger hurling two solid frames before getting touched in the 9th.

STAC loaded the bases with one out and Boland would drive in a pair of insurance runs with a double to open the flood gates. Sunday would score on an error and D'Angelo opened the gap to 5-0 with a sac fly. Susana would then double home a pair of runs and score himself on a Ferriggi single, as the Spartans opened up breathing room.

Ferriggi came on to work a scoreless 9th and preserve the one-hitter, making a winner of Tompkins, who improved to 2-1 on the season. Susana was the offensive star for STAC with three hits, including a double and a triple, in five at bats.

The four-game weekend set concludes with a double-dip on Sunday, March 23 starting at 12:00 noon. The Spartans will serve as the home team, with the games being played at New York Institute of Technology in Old Westbury, NY.