The St.Thomas Aquinas College baseball team won its fifth straight game, a 3-1 non-conference triumph at Adelphi University. STAC, ranked #6 in the East in this week's NCBWA poll, won its eighth out its last nine games to improve to 17-10, while #10 ranked Adelphi fell to 14-12 with the loss.

Adelphi manufactured a run in the 1st on Steven Withers' infield hit, a stolen base, and two ground outs, taking an early 1-0 lead. Panthers starter Tom Ambrosino created his own problem in the 2nd by hitting a pair of batters, both of whom came in to score on Nick Lucchese's clutch two out single.

After that leadoff infield single, Spartans starter John Bednarek was nearly untouchable, mowing down 11 straight batters - eight via ground out - before allowing a 4th inning hit that was to be the last he would allow. Ambrosino was chased with one out in the top of the 4th but a trio of Adelphi relievers held STAC without a hit until Giovanni Dingcong crashed his league leading ninth homer of the season to provide a 9th-inning insurance tally.

That was more than enough for Bednarek (3-1), who tossed 102 pitches for the complete game, inducing 17 ground ball outs while striking out five and walking two in a contest that required just 1:59 to complete.

The Spartans return to East Coast Conference action with a single contest at Mercy College at noon on Saturday, before St. Anselm visits Palisades Credit Union Park for a twin-bill, with game time now pushed back to 1:00 pm.