The St. Thomas Aquinas College baseball team scored a big comeback victory over the University of New Haven, 8-7, at Provident Bank Park. Derek Hirsch's walk-off single capped a 5-run 9th inning rally at the Spartans improved to 17-10 overall, while dropping New Haven to 8-8.

STAC fell into a 4-0 hole after one half inning as starter Eric Cooper yielded two hits, two walks and a hit batter before leaving with just two out in the frame. Stanley Susana's ground out scored Rich Baerga in the bottom half, drawing the hosts to within 4-1.

James Callahan turned in 2.1 innings of hitless relief and the Spartans drew closer in the 4th on Stephen Sunday's two-run homer to deep left, making the score 4-3. The score remained the same until the 7th, when New Haven pushed across a pair of insurance runs off reliever Matthew Petro, and another against Nick D'Angelo in the top of the 9th to take a seemingly comfortable 7-3 bulge into STAC's last at bat.

Chris Goetz set the table with a leadoff single and pinch runner Kedeem Octave was erased on a John DeAngelis fielders choice. D'Angelo helped his own cause with a single to right, moving DeAngelis to third, and both advanced on a daring double-steal, cutting the gap to 7-4.

Baerga followed with his third hit of the game, an RBI triple into the right field corner, bringing D'Angelo home and putting the tying run at the plate with only a 7-5 deficit. UNH starter Derek Drag would finally give way, handing the ball to reliever JP Kouloutourous who induced a flyout from Kenny Kirshner, bringing the Spartans down to their final out.

St. Thomas Aquinas was far from finished, with CJ Ferriggi's sharp single to left scoring Baerga and putting the tying run on second. Sunday came through with his second big hit of the day, with his double into the left-centerfield gap scoring Susana and putting Ferriggi on third with the potential winning run.

That potential would quickly be realized, as Hirsch stung a 1-1 offering into left field, as Ferriggi scored the unprobably winning run, sending the Spartans into a wild celebration. Nick D'Angelo took the win, his first decision of the season, as his team banged out 15 hits overall.

The Spartans return to action tomorrow, Wednesday, April 9, hosting Dominican College in a 4:00 pm start at Provident Bank Park. They will be back in Pomona on Friday, April 11, hosting LIU-Post for the start of a four-game East Coast Conference weekend set.