The St. Thomas Aquinas College baseball team meets a familiar opponent in Sunday morning's Winner's Bracket showdown against #4 Southern New Hampshire University in the NCAA Division II East Regional hosted by the University of New Haven at Pace University in Pleasantville, NY.
Click Here for NCAA Tournament East Regional Central
========================
Schedule note - Saturday's inclement weather has necessitated changes in the regional schedule. Please visit Regional Central at the link above for the latest schedule and information.
How They Got Here - The East Coast Conference champion Spartans won their opener against Wilmington on Thursday by an 8-3 count, and followed that up with a 5-1 triumph over LeMoyne on Friday to advance in the Winner's bracket. The Spartans are the only team in the field to have not lost a game this postseason, amassing a 5-0 record including ECC tourney games.
Southern New Hampshire opened tourney play with a 7-2 victory over Franklin Pierce on Thursday, and followed that with a convincing 7-1 decision over top seeded New Haven on Friday.
The Spartans (38-13)- While All-Conference standouts such as ECC Player of the Year Giovanni Dingcong, Joseph Pena, Frankie Moscatiello and Chris Cepeda have made the expected contributions, unsung heros have also provided important depth. Nicholas Lucchese was named the Most Outstanding Player of the ECC Tournament, Bobby Morse has been big in the clutch, and Anthony Maisano went 4-for-4 in Friday's win over LeMoyne. Saturday's likely starter will be either Tyler Patane (3-0, 3.66 ERA) or Jason Salva (4-3, 4.41 ERA), and the bullpen should be well rested, working just two innings over the first two games.
The Penmen (37-15) - Eight members of the Penmen squad earned conference honors from the NE-10, though interestingly not one SNHU player was tapped for First Team status. Third baseman Thomas Blandini (.332 avg, 44 RBI) and outfielder Caleb Potter (.306 avg, 11 HR, 38 RBI) were Second Team selections, along with reliever Jake Walkinshaw (who tossed a complete-game victory vs. Franklin Pierce on Thursday). Dakota Mulcay stroked eight homers with a .266 average to earn NE-10 Rookie of the Year kudos.
Familiar foes - Despite the distance between the Spartans and Penmen geographically, they have seen a lot of each other in recent seasons. STAC took 2-of-3 in a weekend series on March 17-18 in Northborough, Massachusetts, winning by scores of 2-0 and 4-2 and falling by a 6-1 margin. In 2017, they squared off four times, splitting a regular-season twin-bill on Long Island, before the Spartans won the last two straight in the East Regional, including in the final contest.
Sunday's showdown is actually a rematch of last season's Saturday night Winner's Bracket game, in which the Spartans prevailed by a score of 13-1, with Giovanni Dingcong (4), Bobby Morse (3) and Mark Shkrelja (3) combining to drive in 10 runs. The Penmen staved off elimination with an 8-2 win over Felician to set up a rematch with STAC, but the rested Spartans retained their momentum, riding a six-run second inning to a 13-2 win.
In the Post-Season - STAC is in its sixth straight NCAA Tournament appearance, won the East Region Championship in 2014 and '17, and were among the three finalists for last year's National Championship. The Spartans are likely the most playoff-tested squad in this year's field; since the 2013 season, STAC has a 32-17 overall post-season record (15-6 ECC; and 17-11 NCAAs). That total includes an impressive 14-7 mark in games when facing elimination.
Southern New Hampshire is one of the few programs that can challenge that claim, with seven straight East Regional appearances, including a Regional Championship in 2012 and appearances in the final game each of the past two seasons.
Beasts of the East - St. Thomas Aquinas began its current run of six straight East Regional appearances in 2013, making a quick exit after losing their first two games. One season later, they dropped their third straight NCAA game, falling to Wilmington in the East opener. Since that time, the Spartans have figured it out, reeling off an amazing 15-4 record in East Regional action, including championships in 2014 and '17, and their current string of six consecutive wins in East play.
In the Zone - With his complete-game two-hit victory over LeMoyne on Friday night, Chris Cepeda's spectacular second half only gets more impressive. Over his last eight starts, the junior has compiled a 7-0 record with a dominant 1.37 ERA. Perhaps more astonishingly, Cepeda has walked just five batters in 59.0 innings over that span, allowing nine earned runs and 45 hits while striking out 59 batters.
What's Next? - The winner of this game will advance to Championship Monday in tournament Game 12 on Monday at 12:00 noon, needing one win in two tries for the regional title. The loser will play an elimination contest in Game 11 on Sunday at 7:00 pm against the winner of Game 10, which will immediately precede it at 12:00 noon. The winner of the regional advances to the NCAA Division II Baseball Championship in Cary, North Carolina.
2018 NCAA Division II East Region Championship
Thursday, May 17
Game 1: #3 Le Moyne 3, #6 Merrimack 2
Game 2: #2 St. Thomas Aquinas 8, #7 Wilmington 3
Game 3: #4 Southern New Hampshire 7, #5 Franklin Pierce 2
Friday, May 18
Game 4: Wilmington 10, Merrimack 5 (Merrimack eliminated)
Game 5: Southern New Hampshire 7, #1 New Haven 1
Game 6: St. Thomas Aquinas 5, LeMoyne 1
Saturday, May 19
Game 7: New Haven 1, Wilmington 0 (Wilmington eliminated)
Game 8: Franklin Pierce 6, LeMoyne 2 (LeMoyne eliminated)
Sunday, May 20
Game 9: Southern New Hampshire (37-15) vs. St. Thomas Aquinas (38-13) - 11:00 a.m.
Game 10: New Haven (38-11) vs. Franklin Pierce (33-14-1) - 3:00 p.m.
Game 11: Winner Game 10 vs. Loser Game 9 - 7:00 p.m.
Monday, May 21
Game 12: Winner Game 9 vs. Winner Game 11 - 12:00 p.m.
Game 13 (if necessary): Winner Game 9 vs. Winner Game 11 - 4:00 p.m.