The St. Thomas Aquinas College baseball team dropped a 5-3 decision in an East Coast Conference contest at the University of Bridgeport. The Spartans now stand at 21-12 overall and 7-4 in ECC action, with Bridgeport improving to 14-14, 8-5.

STAC pushed across a run in the top of the 2nd when Bobby Morse walked, advanced on a wild pitch, stole third and scored on a throwing error by catcher Darren Grabowski. Bridgeport answered with all the runs they would need in the home 4th.

Starter John Bednarek, last week's ECC Pitcher of the Week, walked leadoff batter Cam Overbaugh. After a sacrifice, Zach Burger singled in the tying run. With two down, Stephen DiNicola doubled in a pair to put the Purple Knights on top, and Ben Torres followed with an RBI double to make the tally 4-1.

Torres tripled and scored on a squeeze bunt to make the score 5-1, and Bridgeport starter Anthony Alicki stayed strong in allowing just the one run through seven innings. The Spartans staged a rally in the eighth with RBI singles by Giovanni Dingcong and Morse, but with the tying run on base, Dennis Berardi came on to retire the next two batters and stop the uprising.

Alicky improved to 3-1 with the win with Berardi taking the save, while Bednarek dropped to 2-3 with the loss. Greg Dawber and Nick Lucchese had two hits each for STAC, which dropped its second straight after winning the previous nine in a row.

The Spartans have a busy week on tap with home games Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday, wrapped around a Saturday double at Bridgeport. On Monday, Adelphi visits for a big regional tilt with East Stroudsburg coming to Palisades Credit Union Park on Wednesday. The weekend contests are part of a four-game ECC series with the Purple Knights - for game times please check the schedule page.