The St. Thomas Aquinas College baseball team took an early lead but came up short in a 5-4 East Coast Conference loss to LIU-Post at Provident Bank Park. The Spartans remain in second place in the ECC after the setback, dropping to 20-12 overall and 10-6 in conference play. Post improved to 11-11 overall, 6-5 in the ECC.
Post jumped on top in the opening frame, rapping out four hits and utilizing a pair of STAC errors to grab a 2-0 lead, but the Spartans would respond quickly in their turn, though the rally was short of what it might have been.
Rich Baerga and Kenny Kirshner both walked to start the frame, but Baerga was picked off second base for the inning's first out, with Kirshner advancing to second. That would prove costly as Susana would follow with an RBI single, and STAC would turn an error and a passed ball into a pair of runs to take a 3-2 lead. They would load the bases with two down but were unable to score further, and the Pioneers' bullpen took charge.
Neither team would score again until the 6th, when LIU-Post would tie the score with a run off reliever Anthony Morris. Another run in the 8th would briefly give the visitors a 4-3 lead but Nick D'Angelo would come in to prevent further damage, and STAC would once again battle back in the bottom half.
With two out and nobody on, consecutive singles from D'Angelo, Baerga, and Kirshner would tie the score, but two more of STAC's 12 men left on base would be stranded. The Pioneers scratched out the winning run off D'Angelo in the top of the 9th, and Stephen Sunday would lead off the final frame with a single but was left in scoring position to end the afternoon.
Sunday had three hits to lead the offense, with D'Angelo falling to 1-1 with the loss.
The Spartans return to action on Tuesday, April 15, with a double-header against Wilmington, scheduled for a 2:00 pm start at Provident Bank Park. They return home on Thursday to start an ECC series against Queens, travel to Flushing for a twin-bill on Saturday, and return home for the finale on Monday.