The St. Thomas Aquinas College baseball team won its sixth straight game, a 4-3 East Coast Conference battle at Mercy College. The Spartans have won 9-of-10 overall to improve to 17-10 on the season and remain in first place in the ECC with a 7-3 mark. Mercy dropped to 7-16, 1-6 with the loss.

For six innings, the story of the day was starting pitching, as STAC's Frankie Moscatiello traded zeroes with Mercy's Matt Nalbone. The Spartans were held to just one single over those six frames, while Mercy saw two runners advance as far as third base before Moscatiello quelled the uprising.

STAC finally broke through in the 7th when Nick Lucchese singled and came around on Mark Shkrelja's two-run homer with one down. The Mavericks answered, however, knotting the score in the bottom half with the tying run scoring on a fly ball caught by shortstop Joey Pena.

Nalbone finally showed signs of fatigue in the 8th, when Chris Ruiz drew a one-out walk and Pena followed with a single. Lucchese loaded the bases with his third hit of the game, and Mark Shkrelja came through again with a two-run single to make the score 4-2. Joseph Sadallah homered in the home 8th off Chad Sinko, but George Navadel came on to earn the save with a scoreless 9th.

The Spartans return to action for a non-conference double-header against St. Anselm on Sunday at 1:00 pm at Palisades Credit Union Park.