The St. Thomas Aquinas College baseball team fell to a 2-1 defeat against St. Anselm College at St. Joseph's Sports Complex in Patchogue, NY. The Spartans took two of three games in the weekend set and now stand at 12-5 overall, with St. A's improving to 3-12.
Rich Cesca, Jr. provided the lone STAC run with a 7th inning homer to tie the score, but the Hawks pushed across the winning marker in the top of the 9th to avoid the sweep. John Bednarek threw seven strong innings but took the no-decision, Giovanni Dingcong and Joe Boland had two hits each, and George Navadel took the tough loss for St. Thomas Aquinas.
On a frigid first day of spring, neither team was able to get the bats heated up as Bednarek and Hawks' starter Tyler Buck matched goose eggs through four. The visitors broke through first on Paul Trabucco's two-out, run scoring-single in the 5th, but Cesca went deep to left-center to tie the score in the home 7th.
With the score deadlocked, STAC went to closer Navadel to start the 9th. One day earlier, Navadel picked up a one-pitch save in a 1-0 victory, as his pitch in the dirt resulted in the potential tying run being caught at home for the last out.
Control problems plagued the closer on Sunday, as he walked leadoff hitter Allan McQuarrie and went 2-0 on his next foe, Allan's brother Jon McQuarrie, before being replaced by Scott Hannon. Allan stole second but was promptly picked off on a nice move by Hannon, but the Spartans were not out of jeopardy.
Hannon proceeded to issue the walk to Jon McQuarrie - with the walk charged to Navadel - and followed by issuing a pass to Connor Parent. A potential inning-ending grounder was bobbled momentarily, forcing STAC to settle for just a force play, which proved costly when Tyler McKeon singled in what proved to be the winning run.
In all, St. Thomas Aquinas - playing its seventh game in as many days, wrapped around a bus trip home from Florida - saw Seve Llanio work two scoreless innings to earn the relief win, as STAC accounted for just six hits while committing three fielding errors on the day.
The Spartans return to action on Thursday, March 24, opening the East Coast Conference schedule with a 3:00 pm start at Mercy College, the start of a four-game series.
Please note - Due to unplayable field conditions at Provident Bank Park, the scheduled double-header against Mercy on Saturday, March 26, will be moved. Please check the schedule for further details.
- Steve Balsan, St. Thomas Aquinas Sports Information
- Photo by Dorice Arden