The St. Thomas Aquinas College baseball team rallied twice for an East Coast Conference double-header sweep over Queens College, 2-1 and 8-6, at Palisades Credit Union Park. The Spartans took three of four in the back-to-back twin-bills, improving to 15-7 overall and 3-1 in the ECC, with Queens slipping to 7-10, 1-3. STAC received a #3 rank in this week's National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association poll, released earlier today.
Originally scheduled to be played in Flushing but moved due to unplayable field conditions, the Spartans batted as the visiting team in both games. Queens got on the board in the bottom of the 1st when Kevin Kolesar scored on a wild pitch, but from there STAC's Chris Cepeda and Knights starter Brandon Hoskins engaged in an outstanding pitchers' duel, trading zeroes until the final frame.
Hoskins held that narrow one-run lead and had allowed just two hits until Joseph Pena singled with one out in the top of the 9th. Nicholas Lucchese grounded into a force play and the Spartans were down to their final strike when Giovanni Dingcong crushed a 1-2 offering out of the ballpark to left - against the wind - to give his team its first lead of the day. Cepeda, who had been masterful after struggling in the opening inning, retired Queens in order to seal the complete game victory and improve to 2-3 on the season, striking out nine while walking just one. Hoskins dropped to 0-1 with the tough loss, allowing one walk and striking out four.
Having settled for a split one day earlier, STAC appeared determined to write a different script with two runs in the 1st and another in the 2nd to take an early game two lead. Dingcong picked up where he left off in the previous game, driving his league-leading seventh homer of the season deep to right-center to provide a quick 2-0 advantage. Nicholas Lucchese walked with the bases loaded to make the score 3-0, but Queens starter Dylan Hughes escaped further damage and his teammates answered in the bottom half.
Eric Roubal's two-run homer cut the deficit to just one, and RBI singles by Kevin Kolesar and Andrew Navarez gave the Knights a 4-3 edge. They tacked on another pair in the 3rd on Andrew Stepnoski's two-run shot, knocking STAC starter Anthony Shkrelja from the box with a 6-3 deficit. Angelo Baez entered in relief to shut the door and the Spartans drew closer in the 4th when Joey Pena singled in a run, and Dingcong stayed red-hot with another RBI single to make the score 6-5. That lead held up until the top of the 7th and final inning, when lightning struck for the second time in as many games.
Baez helped his own cause with a one out single, and pinch hitter Tyler Patane singled him to third. Juan Adorno followed with another pinch single, bringing in Baez to tie the score and moving pinch runner Jonathan Meaney to third. With the infield in, Adorno was picked off first but remained hung up in the baseline, allowing Meaney to steal home with the go-ahead run as Adorno pulled safely into second. Two batters later, Lucchese brought in an insurance run with a sac fly, and Baez returned to the mound to complete his scoreless 4.2 inning relief stint and improve to 3-1 on the season. Queens reliever Dylan Sabia fell to 0-3 with the loss.
The Spartans are now idle until Saturday, when they return to Palisades Credit Union Park for a non-conference double-header against the College of Saint Rose in a 12:00 noon start.