The St. Thomas Aquinas College baseball team scored a pair in the 8th inning and another in the 9th to take 4-3 win in their East Coast Conference opener at Mercy College. STAC improved to 13-5 overall and 1-0 in the ECC, with Mercy dropping to 7-10, 0-1.
Anthony Morris battled through eight innings, allowing three runs - just one earned - to take the victory and improve to 3-1, which George Navadel recorded the final out for his sixth save of the campaign. Greg Dawber had a pair of hits and his sac fly in the final frame brought in the winning run for the Spartans.
Mercy got on the board in the home first when leadoff man Brian Torres singled, stole second, and came in on a two-out passed ball. Torres was in the mix again two innings later, once again with a lead off single and advancing on a throwing error. After a grounder moved him to third, Brian Hagan converted the sac fly to put the Mavericks up, 2-0.
Meanwhile, starter Matt Snyder frustrated the Spartans, who posted an unearned run in the top of the 4th. Tyler Patane singled with one down and moved to second on a passed ball, before Michael Morgan's two-out hit brought him in to cut the margin to one.
Leadoff baserunners were the story for Mercy, which had six over Morris' eight innings of work. Nick Daley continued the trend in the 5th, advancing on a sac bunt before coming in on Scott Hagan's two-out triple to return the hosts to their two-run lead.
Snyder gave way after seven strong innings and STAC quickly took advantage of reliever Marc Medico. Nick Gargan started the charge with an infield hit, advancing on a throwing error. He advanced on a Giovanni Dingcong grounder, and came in on Deven Del Priore's base hit to left, putting the tying run on base with the score 3-2.
With two out, pinch runner Andre Jackson stole second, which proved to be decisive when Tyler Patane came through with a game-tying RBI single.
Rich Cesca, Jr. kept the momentum going with a leadoff walk in the visiting 9th, giving way to pinch runner Omar Cuevas. Mike Morgan's sac attempt went for a bunt single, setting the table for Dawber's liner to center which brought home the winning run.
There were anxious moments in the bottom half, however, as James Waters stroked a one-out triple off reliever Chris Pennell. With the infield in, Pennell battled back to strike out Nick Daley before giving way to Navadel, who picked up his second one-pitch save in six days, inducing Torres into a game-ending grounder.
In addition to Dawber, Del Priore, Patane and Morgan each recorded two hits for the Spartans, who totaled nine hits on the afternoon.
These teams return to action tomorrow, Friday, March 25, for the middle two games of their four-game conference set. The double-header will be played at Mercy with STAC as the home team, first pitch scheduled for 12:00 noon. The series wraps up on Monday with a 3:00 pm start, also at Mercy.
- Steve Balsan, St. Thomas Aquinas Sports Information
- Photo by Dorice Arden