The St. Thomas Aquinas College baseball team saw its five game winning streak snapped in a 12-3 loss to Southern Connecticut State University in the final game of their annual Florida trip. STAC won five-of-six on their final southern swing of the season, and now stand at 10-4 on the season, with SCSU improving to 5-6-1.

St. Thomas Aquinas was looking to match its best Sunshine State swing ever, which ended with a 6-0 mark in 2013, but the Owls had other ideas. With STAC having earned a 7-3 win the day before, Southern pushed across a 1st-inning run on Mike DeMartino's double, and added three more after two were out in the home 4th to make the tally 4-0.

Meanwhile, SCSU starter Jason Harper yielded just two hits through six innings of work before the Spartans broke through with a pair in the 7th. Tyler Patane singled in Rich Cesca, Jr, who had doubled earlier in the evening, and Joseph Pena brought his team within a pair with a sac fly, but STAC would strand the tying runners in that frame.

Southern took full advantage, answering with a pair off the Spartan bullpen in the bottom half, before breaking the game open in the last of the 8th. Nick Gargan's home run was not enough, as Anthony Morris worked the first six in taking the loss, falling to 2-1 on the season, while Harper improved to 2-0 with the win.

The Spartans open their home scheule on Saturday, March 19, with a double-header against St. Anselm at noon, with the site moved to St. Joseph's College Sports Complex in Patchogue, NY.

-Steve Balsan, St. Thomas Aquinas Sports Information

- Photo by Dorice Arden