The St. Thomas Aquinas College baseball team split a pair of contests with Le Moyne College in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, to open up their southern trip. The Spartans dropped a 3-1 decision in the first game of the day, before picking up a 5-2 victory in the second game.
In the opener, Le Moyne and STAC took a scoreless tie into the sixth inning, thanks to the pitching of starters Ryan Murphy (Le Moyne) and Aaron Dona (STAC). The Dolphins, unfortunately, would plate 3 runs on a single hit. With the bases loaded and none out, Spartan reliever Donald Hazelton would be lifted for Ryan Hicks. However, STAC was unable to keep the Dolphins off of the scoreboard any longer, as first Drew Fureno drew a bases loaded walk off of Hicks, scoring Nicholas Jacques and making it 1-0 Le Moyne. Three batters later, with the bases still full, Nick Nevens would be hit by a Hicks pitch, scoring Michael Smith to make it 2-0. Andrew Rolen would immediately follow that up with a single to right field, scoring Justin Tuey to push the score to 3-0. The Spartans would get the final out of the inning, but the damage was done.
STAC would attempt a rally in the bottom of the seventh inning, as Matthew Johnson would get on base via a single to left field with one out. An Andrew Guerra ground out would push Johnson to second, before James Versage would get an RBI double to left field, scoring Johnson and giving STAC its first run of the game at 3-1. However, that would be all of the offense that the Spartans would muster, as Kyle Lagrutta would strike out looking to end the game.
Spartan starter Aaron Dona went five innings, picking up the no-decision, while giving up only one hit, walking seven and striking out two. Donald Hazelton would pick up the hard luck loss in relief, not recording an out in the sixth inning; giving up three runs and walking three. Ryan Hicks and Justin Baeyens would combine for the final two innings pitched, surrendering two hits, a walk and striking out three.
Dolphins hurler Ryan Murphy picked up his first win of the season, as he went the distance for Le Moyne, only giving up four hits and a run, while walking two and striking out twelve.
Game two would see Le Moyne jump out to a 2-0 lead after two innings on the strength of an Andrew Roden ground out double play, scoring Drew Carroll and a Ty Syta RBI single to center field, plating Michael Smith.
However, the Spartans would score the next five runs of the game. First, in the third inning, Matthew Johnson would reach first on a throwing error, scoring Anthony Maisano, followed by a Kyle Lagrutta RBI sacrifice fly, scoring Andrew Jemison and knotting the game at 2-2. STAC would take a 2-run lead in the fifth inning, when Dylan Klock would reach first on a fielding error, scoring James Versage and then a Brian Donnelly RBI single to left field, scoring Dylan Klock would make it 4-2 in favor of St. Thomas Aquinas. Another Brian Donnelly RBI single to left in the seventh inning would plate Dylan Klock again and close the scoring out at 5-2.
STAC starter Reyan Mustafoski would pick up his first win of the campaign, surrendering up two runs and six hits over six innings pitched. Mustafoski would also walk six and strikeout six. John Greeley would close things out in the seventh inning to pick up his first save of the season, giving up a walk, while striking out one.
Le Moyne pitcher Joe Vail would take the loss for the Dolphins, as he would go four and two thirds innings, giving up four runs on three hits, while walking five and striking out seven. Reliever Jacob Maser would take the hill for the final two and a third, giving up two hits and a run. Maser would also record two walks and six strikeouts.
The victory gives new Head Coach Jon Garvey his first career win as Spartans' skipper.
St. Thomas Aquinas (1-1) faces Post University (CT) on Saturday, February 22nd. First pitch is scheduled for 7:30pm in Myrtle Beach.