The St. Thomas Aquinas College baseball team came up short in the final game of its annual Florida road trip, falling by a 3-1 count to Stonehill College. Kenny Kirshner had a pair of hits for the Spartans, who finished their season-opening southern journey at 3-4 while Stonehill improved to 8-5.

Stonehill scored all the runs they would need in the first inning off STAC starter Brian Helft as a two-out single from Christian Bagliani put the Skyhawks up 2-0. They increased the lead in the third on another big two-out hit, with Billy Karalis' RBI double making the score 3-0.

Frank Maraca and Joseph Ducoing would combine for 4.2 innings of scoreless relief but STAC's offense was held in check by Skyhawks starter Jim Duff, who scattered four hits over the first eight scoreless innings of work.

St. Thomas Aquinas threatened in the 9th, with Stanley Susana leading off with a single and advancing when Nick Gargan reached on an error. Derek Hirsch got the Spartans on the board with an RBI single, ending Duff's day and turning the save opportunity over to reliever Armand Rugel.

Stephen Sunday sacrificed the tying runs into scoring position, but Rugel proceeded to strike out Juan Adorno and Mike Apreda to secure the win for Stonehill. The Spartans will now head back north, where they have yet to play a game this season due to weather conditions.

Please note - this weekend's games against St. Anselm have been moved to Baseball Heaven in Yaphank, NY. The set will include double-headers both Saturday and Sunday, March 15 and 16, with both scheduled for a noon first pitch.