The St. Thomas Aquinas College baseball team hit the road and came away with an East Coast Conference sweep at Mercy College by scores of 6-4 and 7-5.The Spartans are now in second place in the ECC standings, improving to 8-4 in league play and 16-10 overall, with Mercy dropping to 9-13, 6-5.

After a hard-fought split in the double-header on Saturday, the series shifted to Westchester, where the Spartans grabbed a lead in the opener on Kenny Kirshner's 3rd inning RBI double. STAC tacked on another in the 5th on Rich Baerga's run-scoring single, and two more in the 6th on RBIs from Stephen Sunday and Chris Goetz to take a 4-0 lead.

Starting pitcher Rob Frank was cruising through six scoreless frames, holding Mercy to just a pair of singles over that span. The Mavericks broke through with a run in the bottom of the 7th, ending Frank's afternoon with 6.2 stellar innings of work.

Mercy would draw to within 4-3 with a pair in the bottom of the 8th, but STAC posted a pair of big insurance runs in the 9th. Derek Hirsch led off with a double and came around on Baerga's single to make it a two-run game, and Baerga would eventually score on a stolen base and throwing error. CJ Ferriggi closed out the game with his 5th save of the year, but not before the hosts pushed across a run. It would be the first allowed in Ferriggi's tenure as a Spartan, spanning 22.1 innings, during which time he has allowed just five hits. Sunday had three hits to lead the 13-hit attack.

Because of the postponement of Friday's scheduled game, Sunday became a twin-bill but with two nine-inning games instead of one nine and one seven, which would play a big role in the nightcap.

STAC appeared to take command early with a run in the 1st on Deven Del Priore's run-scoring double, to go with three more runs in the 2nd. Nick D'Angelo doubled home a pair and came around on Baerga's grounder, giving the visitors a 4-0 lead.

That lead would not last long as the Mavericks responded with the tying runs on four hits and an error in the last of the 2nd off starter Anthony Morris. Rob Naughton came in for the Spartans in the 4th and held the fort, with the score remaining at 4-4 until Mercy grabbed a 5-4 edge with an unearned run on a double steal in the bottom of the 6th.

It appeared as though that lead would hold up until the STAC attack came alive in the Spartans' final at bat. With one out, Baerga got the ball rolling with a single and moved to third on a Kirshner hit. Kirshner proceeded to steal second, putting the go-ahead run on second and prompting Mercy to intentionally walk Stanley Susana to load the bases.

Sunday would step to the plate and come up big, with a single to left bringing in two runs and putting the Spartans in the lead at 6-5. Del Priore would finish the scoring with a squeeze bunt to make the score 7-5.

Once again, it was time for CJ Ferriggi from the STAC pen and this time there would be no mistake. He allowed a one-out single before slamming the door on his conference-leading sixth save of the season and giving Naughton the win in relief.

The Spartans have a trio of home contests at Provident Bank Park this week, starting on Tuesday against the University of New Haven. On Thursday, STAC hosts Dominican College in the third meeting of the season, with the Spartans taking narrow victories in the first two. And the next ECC series starts Friday when LIU-Post pays a visit, with all three games slated for a 3:30 pm start. STAC will travel to Post for a twin-bill on Saturday before the set wraps up on Sunday in a 1:00 pm start in Pomona.