The St. Thomas Aquinas College baseball team came out on fire on the opener, coasting to a 13-3 win before outdueling St. Anselm's College by a 3-1 margin in the nightcap at Baseball Heaven in Yaphank, NY.

Rich Baerga continued to wield the hot bat for STAC in the opener, with three hits and four RBI, while freshman Anthony Morris tossed a seven-inning, complete game gem in the nightcap for his first collegiate win. The Spartans took three of the four game weekend series, improving to 6-5 with the sweep, while dropping St. A's to 6-10.

After splitting a pair on Saturday, the Spartans would waste little time in jumping on their visitors in game one Sunday. St. Anselm posted a run in the top of the first when a wild streak saw STAC starter Nick May walk in a run. STAC would break the game open one inning later, pushing across seven runs in the bottom of the 2nd.

Deven DelPriore put the Spartans ahead with a two-run single, and the flood gates were open. Rich Baerga doubled in a pair later in the inning as STAC sent 11 men to the plate in the decisive frame. Omar Cuevas homered in the 4th and STAC pushed across four more in the 5th to end any drama, with a 12-1 cushion.

Baerga drove in two more with a double and DelPriore added another RBI single in that frame. Along with his run scoring double in the 6th, the freshman catcher put a capper on a four-RBI afternoon. Meanwhile, May settled in, allowing just the one run in his five innings of work to pick up the win. The ending was not in question by the time St. A's pushed across a pair in the top of the 9th.

Game two painted a very different picture after an opener that took three hours and 12 minutes to play. Once again, the Hawks would grab an early lead thanks to MacNeill Finnegan's opposite-field homer in the top of the 2nd. That would be the only blemish on STAC's freshman starter Anthony Morris, who faced the minimum 15 batters over the last five innings while not allowing a hit.

St. Thomas Aquinas would score all they would need in the bottom of the 2nd, starting with a CJ Ferriggi lead-off walk followed by a Derek Hirsch single. Nick Gargan's sacrifice bunt was thrown away by Hawks starter Joseph Levasseur, bringing Ferriggi in to tie the score. Joe Boland followed with an RBI single to give STAC a lead they would not relinquish.

Boland added another RBI single in the 4th, bringing in Hirsch to give the Spartans a big insurance run. That was more than enough for Morris, however, as he threw just 74 pitches and faced one batter above the minimum in working a one hour, 27 minute seven-inning complete game for his first collegiate win.

Pending field availability, the Spartans are scheduled to start their East Coast Conference schedule this weekend against the University of Bridgeport. The series starts with a pair of single games in Connecticut on Thursday and Friday, before St. Thomas Aquinas hosts a twin-bill on Saturday.

Please check the website or call the Department of Athlethics for more information or to confirm schedule.