The St. Thomas Aquinas College baseball team rallied for a 6-5 East Coast Conference victory over Dowling College at Provident Bank Park. Joseph Pena struck the deciding blow with a 10th-inning RBI double as STAC took three of the four games in the weekend series. With their 11-5 record, the Spartans remain alone in first place in the ECC standings, improving to 28-10 overall while Dowling dropped to 16-19, 9-7. With eight conference games remaining, they need just two wins to clinch a berth in the conference tournament in defense of their three straight championship titles.
St. Thomas Aquinas squandered a 4-1 lead as ace Matt Kostolos was victimized by three unearned runs in the seventh, but STAC capitalized on an unearned run to tie in the eighth before Pena's walkoff heroics.
Dowling jumped on top in the opening frame on Mike Rizzitello's RBI single, but the Spartans answered with a pair of their own in the bottom half. After driving in the winning run in Saturday's opener, Brandon Fischer stayed hot with a booming triple to deep left center, bringing in Pena to tie the score. Two batters later, Giovanni Dingcong's single put the hosts on top.
Greg Dawber's hot shot toward shortstop skipped into center field for a run-scoring single in the second, and Jonathan McGugan's sac fly in the fifth put the Spartans in a 4-1 lead. Usually a comfortable spot with their ace on the hill, Kostolos had a rising pitch count and shaky fielding contribute to the Golden Lions' go-ahead rally.
Tyler Piccolo's one-out triple into the right field corner scored Chris Russo to cut the gap to 4-2. With the infield in, Rob Costanzo's grounder was thrown away at the plate to open the door. After a single and a pair of walks, Kostolos nearly escaped further trouble but Mike Richter's tapper was mishandled to plate the leading run.
Jonathan McGugan was hit by a pitch to lead off and Andre Jackson came on to pinch run. After a pair of bunts moved Jackson to third, Pena's slow-roller was double-clutched, and the sophomore's speed enabled him to beat out the late throw, with the tying run coming home.
George Navadel required just five pitches to work through the top of the 10th inning, and STAC struck for the clincher in the bottom half. With one out, Mike Morgan walked and stole second, and Dawber walked to put two on. Pena wasted no time, taking Billy Goncalves' first pitch deep off the wall in right center, bringing home Morgan with the winning tally.
Dingcong continued to wield the hot bat, going 3-for-4, with Pena and Morgan adding two hits each. Navadel - off setting the school's all-time single-season saves record on Friday - earned his first win to improve to 1-2, with Goncalves dropping to 0-1.
The Spartans will return to action Tuesday, serving as visitors at Provident Bank Park in a contest against nearby Nyack, before hosting Felician University in another non-conference tilt at 3:30 pm on Thursday. Another big ECC showdown is in store next weekend when STAC plays four against the University of Bridgeport, with the Spartans hosting Saturday's double-header at 12:00 noon.
- Steve Balsan, St. Thomas Aquinas Sports Information
- Photo by Dorice Arden