The St. Thomas Aquinas College baseball team outslugged Queens College in a 23-8 East Coast Conference victory at Provident Bank Park. Nick D'Angelo had two homers and seven RBI, Mike Apreda went 6-for-6, and Coach Scott Muscat earned his 300th Division II victory as the Spartans improved to 21-12 overall and 11-6 in the ECC. Queens dropped its eighth straight overall, falling to 7-16, 2-11.

Queens actually got off to a strong start, roughing up STAC starter Matthew Petro for three runs on four hits in the opening frame. The Spartans battled back with two in their own half and tied the contest at 3-3 an inning later on D'Angelo's blast into the left field seats. The Knights regained the lead with a pair in the top of the 3rd but that was to be their last hurrah, as the Spartans hit parade took full swing.

D'Angelo's second homer of the day, a 3-run blast that tucked into the left field corner, keyed a five-run third inning outburst for St. Thomas Aquinas to make the score 8-5. Queens answered with a pair in the 4th, but Apreda singled in a pair as part of a four-run rally in the bottom half, giving the hosts a 12-7 lead and they would not look back.

In fact, the Spartans would score in each of their eight turns at bat, rapping out 28 hits in all against a quintet of Knights hurlers. By the home half of the 7th inning, the only question was about individual accomplishments, and the Spartans continued to produce. D'Angelo brought in two runs with a single down the line, running his RBI total for the day to seven, and an inning later, Apreda would wrap up his perfect day with his sixth hit, an RBI single to right.

Nearly lost in the outburst was the performance of Stanley Susana, whose four hits included a triple and a homer, to go with five runs scored and an outstanding play deep in the hole at shortstop. When the dust settled, John Bednarek had earned the win in relief, as one of three STAC pitchers from the pen who combined to allow just one run in 5.2 innings of work.

So eventful was the afternoon that players and coaches alike were unaware that Coach Muscat, who entered the game one win short of a milestone, had won his 300th game at the helm since the program moved to the Division II level in 2002. The program did exist with Muscat coaching for the two previous seasons, though those were in the NAIA and not recognized in NCAA Division II records.

The series shifts to Flushing for a twin-bill on Saturday, April 19 starting at noon, before wrapping up back in Pomona on Monday, April 21. First pitch at Provident Bank Park is set for 3:30 pm.