The St. Thomas Aquinas College
baseball team defeated top seed Southern New Hampshire University,
6-1, in the NCAA East Regional in Manchester, NH. STAC
plays Tournament Game 8 on Saturday against Felician College, time
TBD pending weather.
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Other results:
Thursday, May 15
Game 1 - # 1 Southern New Hampshire 9, #6 Felician 3 - The hosts unleash a 7-run barrage in the bottom of the 1st inning and cruise to victory.
Game 2 - #5 Dowling 3, #2 Franklin Pierce 0 - ECC Pitcher of the Year Tyler Badamo tosses a shutout and his offense provides two homers in the opening victory.
Game 3 - #3 Wilmington 4, #4 St. Thomas Aquinas 0 - Wilmington scores four runs in the third and pitching does the rest for the Wildcats.
Friday, May 16
Game 4 - #2 Felician (1L) 5, #6
Franklin Pierce (2L) 0 (Franklin Pierce eliminated)
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Game 5 - #4 St. Thomas
Aquinas College vs #1 Southern New Hampshire University
(spotty internet connection, apologies for any delays!)
4:48 - Frank-enstein!!! Rob Frank throws 142 pitches, going the distance and ending with a strikeout for an exclamation point. STAC plays Felician tomorrow in a Loser's Bracket game, however time is uncertain as status of today's third game is uncertain due to impending storms. - FINAL - St. Thomas Aquinas 6, Southern New Hampshire 1
4:40 - Light rain beginning to fall. Big storms to follow...
4:38 - With two on and one out, Lucas Olen comes on to induce Nick D'Angelo into an inning ending double play. Robert Frank paces back to the mound in search of the complete game. - End 8th - STAC 6, SNNH 1.
4:26 - Frank-ly Amazing! A soft liner to Mike Apreda ends another 1-2-3 inning. The Spartans are now three outs from a meeting with Felician tomorrow. - Mid 8th - STAC 6, SNHU 1.
4:19 - Derek Hirsch delivers a big two-out single and Kenny Kirshner narrowly beats the throw home, scoring from second base to give STAC a big insurance run. - End 7th - STAC 6, SNHU 1.
4:10 - A perfect drag bunt single and stolen base by Brendan O'Brien puts a runner in scoring position, but Frank records his 10th strikeout and gets out of trouble. The Spartans are six outs from living to fight another day. Mid 7th - STAC 5, SNHU 1.
4:01 - Del Priore draws a two out walk but is left there when D'Angelo is retired for the first time, grounding to short. Frank returns to the mound for the 7th, approaching 100 pitches. - End 6th - STAC 5, SNHU 1
3:45 - Frank returns to mound, walks Mastroberti on 3-2 pitch to lead off but recovers to strike out Diaz on three pitches. Mastroberti steals second, one out. Frank fans Fortanasio, and Tolan works a long at bat, fouling off several 3-2 offerings before waving at a slider. 64 minute rain delay? No problem for Frank. - Mid 6th - STAC 5, SNHU 1
3:40 - Game resumes, Ian Searles pitching. On first pitch, Baerga swings through a strike but D'Angelo and Kirshner double steal. 2nd & 3rd, one out. Baerga taps back to pitcher for 2nd out but Hirsch's grounder to short is thrown away by Manny Cruz, allowing two runs to score. Mike Apreda grounds back to the mound, stranding Hirsch at second.- End 5th - STAC 5, SNHU 1
3:30 - Infield being dragged, teams warming up. Game expected to resume shortly.
3:14 - Delay at 40 minutes, rain has slowed to a drizzle and tarp is being removed, infield being treated. Rain is expected to hold off long enough to allow completion of this game. Spartans still batting with two on and one out. Rob Frank is expected to return to the mound for the 6th inning at this time.
2:54 - Delay hits 20 minutes. Rain still falling and tarp on field, but radar shows clearing shortly, with a window that should allow the game to be completed this afternoon. Reminder - NCAA rules mandate that all tournament games be played to completion, so game will be resumed at stopped point whenever conditions allow. Weather map.
2:34 - With Baerga stepping into the box, umps call for the tarp. Delay starts at 2:34 pm.
2:33 - Rain coming down harder. Ground crew getting ready to tarp but we play on. D'Angelo leads off with a single and Susana bunts him to second before Kirshner walks. First and Second, one out. Local weather map
2:26 - SNHU re-takes the field after a five-minute delay to tend home plate and mound. Nick D'Angelo, who homered his last time up, will lead off for the Spartans, followed by Stanley Susana and Kenny Kirshner.
2:21 - A strikeout and a pair of grounders quickly retire SNHU. Rain continues to fall steadily as umpiring crew keeps teams in dugout to allow field maintenance. Spartans hold the lead halfway through. - Mid 5th - STAC 3, SNHU 1.
2:14 - Ferriggi, Sunday and Del Priore each sky out to the outfield as STAC quickly goes in order. - End 4th - STAC 3, SNHU 1.
2:10 - Alex Person (RHP) now in to pitch for SNHU.
2:09 - Fortanascio leads off with a walk, followed by a fly out to center and a strikeout. Rain is falling more steadily. NOTE - Per NCAA rules, all tournament games must be played to completion. Should a halt be necessary, game would be resumed at that point. Maps show rain in area, clearing before heavier storms head through later this afternoon. Derek Hirsch hydroplanes across the left field line with a nice catch for the final out - Mid 4th - STAC 3, SNHU 1.
1:59 - After getting ahead with a 3-1 count, Apreda grounds hard to second into an inning-ending double-play, but the Spartans have their first lead of the Tourney. - End 3rd - STAC 3, SNHU 1.
1:54 - Rain falling harder now, could become a factor. Derek Hirsch works out a walk to load the bases with one out, chasing Tim Viehoff from the hill. Sam Fuller coming on in relief. - Bottom 3rd, STAC 3, SNHU 1.
1:52 - The rally continues as Stanley Susana rips a double down the left field line and moves to third on a wild pitch. Kenny Kirshner walks and Rich Baerga duplicates his feat from the ECC Tournament and pushes a perfect safety squeeze down the first base line, driving in Susana and moving Kirshner to second. Kirshner proceeds to steal third, and three pitches later, Baerga swipes second as the Spartans are on the run. - Bottom 3rd - STAC 3, SNHU 1
1:44 - IT'S GONE!
Stephen Sunday leads off with a single to left in front of a diving
Al Stanton, and Deven Del Priore flies out to the warning track in
left. Nick D'Angelo makes no mistake, drivin a fast ball deep over
the left field fence to give the Spartans their first lead in four
NCAA Tournament games. - Bottom 3rd - STAC 2, SNHU
1.
1:40 - A broken-bat single leads to a runner stranded on third for the hosts. - Mid 3rd - SNHU 1, STAC 0
1:29 - Mike Apreda's hard grounder is snagged nicely by third baseman Riley Palmer but that's the only threat as STAC is down in order. - End 2nd - SNHU 1, STAC 0
1:27 - The umbrellas are out as light rain begins to fall again. Forecast calls for light showers throughout the afternoon, getting harder toward evening. Not expected to halt game.
1:24 - After striking out the first two batters, Frank hits #9 hitter Anthony Aceto with a pitch and walks Brendan O'Brien before Manny Cruz skies to shallow left to end the threat. - Mid 2nd - SNHU 1, STAC 0
1:16 - A pair of strikeouts and a grounder to short, and the Spartans are retired in order in the 1st. -End 1st - SNHU 1, STAC 0
1:08 - Frank strands two runners, yielding just an unearned run. Spartans come to bat looking for their first run of the tournament. Mid 1st - SNHU 1, STAC coming to bat
1:05 - A Manny Cruz single, infield error and a Riley Palmer base hit put the Spartans in a quick hole. First and second, one out. Top 1st - SNHU 1, STAC 0
12:59 - STAC wearing maroon tops with white caps. First pitch is a fly out to left field. We're underway...
12:56 - The Spartans take the field...
12:46 - Teams in respective dugouts, wind picking up and light rain starting to fall on Penmen Field.
Lineups -
Southern New Hampshire (batting as
visitors) - O'Brien cf; Cruz ss; Stanton, lf; Palmer 3b;
Mastroberti 2b; Diaz 1b; Fortanacio c; Toland dh; Aceto rf; Viehoff
LHP (5-2, 1.28 era)
Spartans (batting as
home) - Susana ss; Kirshner 1b; Baerga cf; Hirsch lf; Apreda 2b;
Ferriggi 3b; Sunday c; Del Priore dh; D'Angelo rf; Frank p (4-2,
3.35 ERA)
12:25 pm - Teams are warming up on the field and in the batting cage. Overcast and windy but rain still holding off. First pitch expected at 1:00 pm as scheduled.
Senior Rob Frank, with a program-record 16 career victories, will get the start for St. Thomas Aquinas.