The St. Thomas Aquinas College baseball team split a pair of contests with West Chester University of PA at Serpico Stadium in West Chester, Pennsylvania on Sunday afternoon. The Spartans picked up a 6-3 victory in the first game of the day, before dropping game two, 3-1.
In the opener, STAC broke out to a 4-0 lead on the strength of a Jonnathan Cepeda second inning grand slam off of Golden Rams starter David Mervis, scoring Brian Donnelly, Kyle Lagrutta and Christopher Conti. Dylan Klock would then push the score to 5-0 in the very next inning, as Klock would pick up an RBI single to left field with Andrew Jemison coming around to score.
West Chester would get themselves on the scoreboard in the bottom of the third inning, when JR Gifford would ground out to third base, scoring Brian Verratti, cutting the Spartan lead to 5-1.
Dylan Klock would get the STAC lead back to five, as he would homer to left field off of reliever Jon Hines in the top of the sixth inning to make the game 6-1. In the bottom of the frame Drew Jarmuz would single through the left side off of Spartan starter Angelo Baez to score JR Gifford to make it 6-2, followed by a Ryan Calhoun RBI sacrifice fly to left field, scoring Justin Horn to cut the lead in half at 6-3. Baez would get Nick D'Amore to fly out to right to end the inning and keep the damage to a minimum.
After a quiet top of the seventh inning for STAC, West Chester would have one final chance to get themselves back into the game. The Golden Rams would have to face reliever Thomas Gregory in order to make that rally attempt a reality. Hunter Reeser got things started for West Chester with a single to right field. Matt Dallar would then single to third base via a bunt, putting two runners on with no one out. A Brian Verratti pop up to the catcher, followed by JR Gifford flying out to left would give the Spartans two outs. Gregory, looking to get the final out, would then walk Zach Wright to load the bases and make for tense moments in the St. Thomas Aquinas dugout. The winning run would come to the plate, as Justin Horn stepped in looking to give the Golden Rams a potential walk-off victory. However, Horn would fly out to right field to end the game.
Spartan starter Angelo Baez went six innings, picking up his first win of the 2020 campaign, while giving up three runs on five hits, walking none and striking out ten. Thomas Gregory would close things out in the seventh, surrendering only two hits and walking one to pick up his first save of the season.
Golden Rams hurler David Mervis took the loss, as he went five innings, giving up five hits and 5 runs, while striking out eight. Reliever Jon Hines would pitch the final two innings for West Chester, yielding a run on two hits and fanning one STAC batter.
In game two of the Sunday twin bill, the teams would be largely quiet through the first five innings, as the Spartans and Golden Rams would combine for three hits, five walks and two hit batters. Starters Alex Mack (STAC) and Zach Rice (West Chester) kept the scoreboard clean by inducing ground outs and fly outs of opposing hitters.
However, events would pick up in the top of the sixth inning, as first Anthony Maisano reached first base via a throwing error by the shortstop. Michael D'Andrea would then get himself on base, as an error by the West Chester catcher would put two men on with nobody out. An Andrew Jemison walk loaded the bases, before Matthew Johnson would ground into a 5-4-3 double play, scoring Maisano and putting STAC up 1-0. D'Andrea would then end the inning as he was caught stealing third base.
Things would again settle down until the bottom of the eighth inning, when Nick D'Amore and Hunter Reeser were issued back-to-back walks by Spartan reliever Reyan Mustafoski, putting two men on with no one out. Matt Daller would strikeout for the first out, before Brian Verratti would single to right field, scoring D'Amore and tying things up at 1-1. A pitching change would end the day for Mustafoski, and St. Thomas Aquinas would call on Ryan Lutz to limit the damage and get the final two outs of the inning. Lutz would do just that and record strikeouts of both JR Gifford and Zach Wright to end the eighth.
After a quick, and scoreless, top of the ninth inning for STAC, West Chester would come to bat in the bottom of the frame, looking to end things and pick up a split of this 2-game series. Ryan Lutz would remain on the mound for the Spartans, facing the two, three and four hitters in the Golden Rams lineup. Justin Horn would be due up first and he would get to first base by working a leadoff walk. The very next batter would be Drew Jarmuz, who would launch a two-run shot to center field off of Lutz to give West Chester the 3-1 walk-off victory.
Alex Mack would get a no decision in his first start of the season, giving up only one hit and three walks, while striking out three over three innings pitched. Reliever Aaron Dona would then come on for the next three innings, also giving up one hit and walking three, while fanning six Golden Ram batters. Reyan Mustafoski took the hill for one and one-third innings and gave up 2 hits and a run, while walking three and striking out three. Ryan Lutz would pick up the hard luck loss, moving his record to 0-2 on the season. Lutz would surrender one hit and two runs, while walking one and striking out two over two-thirds of an inning pitched.
Starting pitcher Zach Rice would go the distance for West Chester (107 pitches/62 strikes), as he would give up one run on only two hits, while walking three and striking out five.
St. Thomas Aquinas (3-3) will next head to Cary, North Carolina and the USA Baseball National Training Complex for their annual Spring Break trip. STAC will play 10 games over 8 days, beginning with Frostburg State University on Friday, March 6th. First pitch is scheduled for 7:30pm.