The St. Thomas Aquinas College baseball team dropped a pair of East Coast Conference tilts at Queens College, by scores of 6-1 and 13-2, as the Spartans slipped to 21-9 overall and 7-4 in the ECC, with Queens improving to 13-15, 5-6.

Early Sunday morning, the participants received word that the field at Provident Bank Park was not quite ready yet, forcing the shifting of the twin-bill to the Knights' turf, with STAC playing as the "Home" team. If that move caused disappointment, the day was not to get any better for the Spartans.

Third-inning RBI singles by Karl Klesin and Kevin Kolesar gave Queens an early 2-0 lead, and they added another in the third off starter Anthony Morris. Deven Del Priore stroked a run-scoring single in the sixth to close the gap, but the day belonged to Knights' starter Joseph Broderick, scattering just three hits and the one run in recording the complete game victory, as the Knights added a pair of insurance runs in the seventh and another in the eighth to pull away.

STAC's game two starter John Bednarek and his counterpart Cameron Burt locked up through four lightning-fast scoreless frames, but again it was the team batting as the visitors that would come up with the big hits. Klesin's deep three-run homer to left broke the tie and Queens added another before the end of the fifth to grab a 4-0 edge.

Burt began to weary noticeably in the sixth as a wild pitch brought home Joseph Pena and Jonathan McGugan followed with a sac fly to cut the deficit in half at 4-2. Queens quickly recaptured the momentum, however, putting up three runs in each of the final three innings to pull away. Joe Morris' two-run single in the seventh and Kolsar's three-run shot in the ninth proved to be the most damaging blows, as Kolesar had three hits and drove in four runs to pace the victors.

While there is a possibility that these teams will complete their suspended game from Friday at Queens on Monday afternoon, and the Spartans are scheduled to host Nyack on Tuesday, inclement weather in the forecast is keeping the schedule uncertain at this time. Please check the schedule page for the latest changes.

- Steve Balsan, St. Thomas Aquinas Sports Information

- Photo by Dorice Arden