The St. Thomas Aquinas College baseball team earned its third straight East Coast Conference baseball crown with a 4-1 victory over the University of Bridgeport at Mitchel Field. Anthony Morris was named the tournament's Most Outstanding Player. STAC will now defend its 2014 East Regional Championship next weekend, with location and times to be determined.
STAC enters the NCAA at 27-17-1, with Bridgeport wrapping up the season at 25-24.
St. Thomas Aquinas battled through a misty Championship Saturday to get on the board first in the bottom of the second inning. With two out and nobody on, Brandon Fischer worked out a 10-pitch walk against Bridgeport starter Clayton Morris.
Rich Cesca, Jr., followed with a sinking liner to left that was beyond the reach of a diving Jose Negron for a double, bringing Fischer in with the game’s first run. Derek Hirsch, battling through an injury-plagued season, came through with a big RBI single to left, putting the Spartans in a 2-0 lead.
Anthony Morris cruised until the top of the fifth when, with one out, Alec Janotta’s liner to left skipped past a diving Nick Gargan for a double. Tyler Theiss followed with a grounder to third, but Stanley Susana’s errant throw brought home Bridgeport’s only run.
Gargan led off the sixth by working out a walk, setting the table for a couple of big insurance runs. Gargan proceeded to steal second and came around when ECC Player of the Year Susana laced a double into the left-center gap, making the score 3-1.
Susana advanced to third on an errant pickoff attempt by Clayton Morris and scored on a sac fly by Fischer. That would be more than enough for STAC’s Morris, who allowed just one Bridgeport hit over his final four innings of work, wrapping up a tidy 89-pitch performance with the Spartans’ third straight Championship celebration.
Six teams will participate in the NCAA Division II East Regional, with three automatic bids being issued to conference champions; STAC in the ECC, Frankin Pierce University representing the Northeast-10, and the winner of Saturday’s Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference (CACC) final between Wilmington University and Chestnut Hill College.
The three additional at-large bids as well as host site, seedings and pairings will be announced Sunday night at 10:00 pm Eastern. For the selection show and information, check out the NCAA Championship Central.
ECC Baseball Tournament Central
Thursday, May 7, at Mitchel Field, Uniondale, NY
Game 1 - #3 St. Thomas Aquinas 5, #2 Bridgeport 1
Game 2 - #4 LIU Post 8, #1 Dowling 0
Friday, May 8
Game 3 - Bridgeport 6, Dowling 5 (Dowling Eliminated)
Game 4 - St. Thomas Aquinas 4, LIU Post 2
Game 5 - Bridgeport 4, LIU Post 1 (12) (LIU Post Eliminated)
Saturday, May 9
Game 6 - St. Thomas Aquinas 4, Bridgeport 1