The St. Thomas Aquinas College baseball team saw its winning streak snapped in a 4-1 East Coast Conference loss at Molloy College. Rich Baerga and Derek Hirsch had two hits each for the Spartans, who fell to 11-6 overall and 4-1 in the ECC, while Molloy improved to 6-8, 2-3.

STAC's offense struggled throughout the day against Molloy's Max Schonfeld, sending the minimum nine batters to the plate and getting just a Baerga bunt single through three innings.

After working out of trouble in the 1st, Spartan starter Michael Gonzalez was touched by the Lions for three runs on three hits - including a pair of doubles - in the bottom of the 3rd. Gonzalez would give up just one more run before turning the ball over in the 6th inning, but it proved to be more than enough for the hosts.

St. Thomas Aquinas started to make some noise late when, in the top of the 8th, they put runners at second and third with one out. Baerga would drive in his team's lone run with a ground out, but Schonfeld would escape further trouble.

In the 9th, the Spartans attempted a valiant comeback, putting the tying runs on by loading the bases with two down, only to see reliever Matt Castaneda come in to lock down STAC's first conference loss of the season.

The Spartans return to action tomorrow, Saturday, March 29 for an 11:00 am double-header against Molloy. The series shifts back to Long Island for the fourth and final game on Sunday, March 30, with first pitch set for 1:00 pm.

Note - the start time for tomorrow's double-header against Molloy College has been changed to 11:00 am.