The St. Thomas Aquinas College baseball team dropped the opener of Saturday's East Coast Conference double-header at LIU Post, 4-2, but Stanley Susana's three-run triple led the Spartans to a 5-2 win in the nightcap, moving them to 20-11 overall and 10-5 in the East Coast Conference. Post stands at 11-10 and 5-5 after the split. The Spartans remain in second place in the ECC and have won six of their last seven games.

In the game one setback, LIU-Post recorded two runs in the 3rd inning and single runs in the 4th and 5th off STAC starter Brian Naughton to build a 4-0 lead, with two of those runs being unearned.

STAC got on the board via a Stanley Susana RBI single in the 6th, and trimmed the margin further in the 7th when Derek Hirsch led off with a double and scored on a Mike Apreda single.

Brian Helft kept the contest close with four scoreless relief innings, allowing the Spartans to threaten in the 9th. With one out, Hirsch and Apreda singled to set the table. Nick Gargan, attempting to sacrifice the tying runs into scoring position, reached on a bunt hit but on the play Kedeem Octave, pinch-running for Hirsch, attempted to score and was gunned down at the plate for the second out and STAC was unable to score, with the Pioneers holding on for the victory.

Game two started as a pitchers' duel but the Spartans broke the scoreless deadlock with a pair of runs in the 5th on a Rich Baerga RBI single and a Kenny Kirshner RBI. That looked as though it would be plenty for starter Rob Frank, who sailed through five scoreless frames before walking the first two batters in the bottom of the 6th, his first free passes of the game. CJ Ferriggi would eventually put out the fire, but not before both of those runners would come in to tie the score.

Not to be denied, STAC rallied in the top of the following inning, loading the bases with one out to set the stage for Susana's heroics. Ferriggi finished up the last of the 7th to seal the win.

St. Thomas Aquinas has now taken two of the three games in the series, with the set concluding tomorrow at Provident Pank Park, with first pitch slated for 1:00 pm.