The St. Thomas Aquinas College baseball team rapped out 23 hits in a 20-7 victory over Caldwell College at Provident Bank Park. Derek Hirsch went 5-for-5 with four runs batted in as the Spartans won their fifth straight game, improving to 25-12 overall with Caldwell dropping to 4-21.

After exploding for 51 runs in a four-game weekend sweep of Queens, the STAC attack was held off the board for the first two innings before posting four in the 3rd. Nick Gargan and Stanley Susana provided run-scoring singles before Hirsch tripled into the gap to bring in two more.

Starter Anthony Morris turned in 2.2 scoreless innings and James Sanchez kept the Cougars off the board until running into trouble in the 5th, as the visitors pushed across a pair to cut the deficit in half at 4-2.

STAC would answer with three in the bottom half, with Gargan and Hirsch again providing RBI hits in the rally. Calwell would knock Sanchez from the box with three runs in the sixth to cut the margin to 7-5 before Nick May put out the fire, and any hopes for a Caldwell comeback were laid to rest in the bottom half.

Aided by a streak of wildness, STAC combined six hits, four walks, and a pair of hit batters to key a 10-run uprising. A Susana single and Stephen Sunday double brought in two each, and Kadeem Octave - who entered the game as a pinch runner earlier in the inning but got to hit on the bat-around - doubled deep to left-center to plate two more.

Octave would also start the three-run rally in the home 8th inning with a single and he would score on Brian Pasquale's three run, pinch hit double to round out the scoring. May was credited with the win in relief, allowing one hit and recording all four of his outs via strikeout.

Gargan and Susana added three hits each for the Spartans, who have now outscored opponents 71-22, while amassing 89 hits over thier latest five-game span.

The Spartans return to Provident Bank Park, on Thursday, hosting Concordia College in a non-conference tilt. The Spartans have a bye from confence action this coming weekend, but travel for double-headers at Adelphi University Saturday and Concordia College Sunday.