The St. Thomas Aquinas College baseball team rallied to tie the score in the 9th inning before falling to Dowling College, 7-6 in 12 innings in the East Coast Conference regular season finale as the Spartans fell to 30-13 while Dowling improved to 31-12. Dowling takes the #1 seed into next weekend's ECC Tournament - which they will host - while the Spartans go in as the #2 seed in looking to retain their conference crown where they won it a year ago.

In a game befitting the top two seeds in the conference, both teams battled fiercely thoughout the four-hour contest, with STAC rallying to tie the game on a pair of runs in the 9th and several stellar defensive plays from both sides before the Golden Lions emerged with the win, gaining the split in the four-game weekend set.

STAC jumped in front in the bottom of the 1st when Rich Baerga tripled and scored on a Nick Gargan grounder. They added another run for a 2-0 lead on Stephen Sunday's fielder's choice grounder, bringing home Derek Hirsch. Dowling's offense got in gear with three runs in the 2nd, one in the 3rd, and another in the top of the 5th to take a 5-2 edge.

Stanley Susana's RBI double in the bottom of the 5th brought the Spartans back to within 5-3, and Hirsch added a sacrifice fly scoring Nick D'Angelo to draw the hosts within one. The Golden Lions added an insurance run in the top of the 7th as both teams took turns leaving runners on base throughout the afternoon.

Dowling threatened to extend their lead but were foiled in the late innings by amazing defensive plays. Closer CJ Ferriggi took the hill with runners on second and third in the 8th, and faced a stiff comebacker that appeared destined to go through the middle for a single. Ferriggi reflexively spun backwards, slapping the ball into the air where catcher Sunday corralled it and threw to first in time for the highlight-reel out.

One inning later, with the bases loaded and two down, Rich Baerga tracked a hard line drive through into center field through a steady passing shower, slipped on his way in, and recovered in time to make a leaping grab for the final out, as the score remained at 6-4 until the bottom of the 9th.

With runners at first and second and one out, Sunday's RBI single brought home Susana, and an errant throw allowed Kenny Kirshner to bolt home with the tying run, moving Sunday to second. CJ Ferriggi was issued an intentional walk, and runners held on Nick D'Angelo's fly out to center field.

Mike Apreda followed by dropping a soft single down the right field line, but Sunday's charge home with the potential winning run was cut down on a perfect throw to the plate, sending the contest to extra innings.

STAC's bats would come up empty in the extra frames and Ferriggi, working his longest appearance as a Spartan entering his fifth inning, was finally touched for a run on a two-out double, before Nick D'Angelo entered to record the final out. The Spartans were unable to rally again, however, going down in order to end the 4:08 marathon battle.

The Spartans will face Molloy College in the first round of the conference tourney, after the Lions clinched a slot on the season's final day. Host Dowling will open against Bridgeport, which benefitted from LIU Post's loss to take the final slot. Tournament details will be determined.

Note - The #2 Seed Spartans will open against #3 Molloy on Thursday, May 8 at 3:00 pm at Dowling College. For full Tournament details, please visit ECC Championship Central.