The St. Thomas Aquinas College baseball team won its fourth straight game, topping Dominican College, 8-6, at Provident Bank Park. Rich Baerga had three hits for the second straight day to lead the Spartans, who improved to 18-10 overall while dropping Dominican to 9-14. It was the third victory in as many meetings this season for St. Thomas Aquinas over its nearby rival.
STAC jumped in front early, posting three runs in the 2nd inning and two more in the 3rd. With the bases loaded and one out, Baerga's sharp single to center field brought in a pair, with Kenny Kirshner following with a perfect swinging-bunt single to bring in another, making the score 3-0.
One inning later, Deven Del Priore's first collegiate home run hit the right field seats, scoring Stephen Sunday to put the Spartans in a 5-0 lead. Starter Nick May cruised through four innings of two-hit ball before defensive woes contributed to a Dominican comeback with three runs in the 5th, two unearned.
STAC would answer those runs in its half of the 6th, with Baerga's one-out triple driving in one run before Kirshner's base hit would score Baerga. Derek Hirsch would cap the rally with an RBI single to center, as the Spartans reclaimed their comfortable gap at 8-3.
Once again, fielding problems would open the door for a Chargers rally in the 9th, as Dominican plated three unearned runs and put the tying runs on base before James Sanchez was able to record the game's final out. May improved to 2-1 in earning the win, as four STAC pitchers overcame five errors to allow just one earned run on the day.
The Spartans return to action on Friday, April 11, hosting LIU-Post in the start of a four-game East Coast Conference weekend series. That contest will start at 3:30, then the series shifts to Long Island for a Saturday double-header before wrapping up with a 1:00 pm start at Provident Bank Park on Sunday. The Spartans enter the weekend in 2nd place in the ECC standings, and ranked #6 in the East Region in the National College Baseball Writers' Association poll.