Uniondale, N.Y. - The St. Thomas Aquinas College Baseball team split a conference twin bill with Molloy College on Saturday afternoon at the Mitchel Athletic Complex, as the Spartans earned a 5-2 victory in the first game, before dropping a 9-8 extra innings affair to the Lions.

STAC moves to 10-14 overall and 4-2 in the ECC, with Molloy going to 19-7 and 5-1.

How it Happened - Game One

• Molloy took a 1-0 lead in the second inning.
• Gregory DiGiaro's RBI single to left field in the third inning tied the game, as Andrew Jemison came to the plate to score.
• The host Lions regained the lead at 2-1 in the fourth.
• In the sixth, an Andrew Jemison single to right field, scored Christopher Conti to tie the game at 2-2.
• An Andrew Guerra single to center field put STAC ahead at 3-2, with Danny Di Marzo coming around to score.
• A Nick O'Connor RBI single to first base in the eighth, scored David Potenza to give the Spartans an insurance run to make it 4-2.
• Sean Lynch's single up the middle in the ninth plated one final run for St. Thomas Aquinas, as Danny Di Marzo came home to push the advantage to 5-2.
• John Archer picked up his third win of the season (3-3), pitching 6.1 innings while giving up eight hits and two runs (one earned). He walked three and fanned four in his outing.
• Mark Barillas and Justin Baeyens combined to hurl 2.2 innings in relief, surrendering only two hits, while walking one and K-ing three. Baeyens earned his fifth save of the campaign with his inning of work in the ninth.

How it Happened - Game Two

• St. Thomas Aquinas opened the scoring in game two with four-first inning runs. Andrew Jemison's single through the right side, scored Nick O'Connor, followed by Matthew Johnson's RBI ground out, which brought Jemison to the plate. An Eric Volpi home run to left center field made it 3-0, before a Kyle Lagrutta single to center field sent Andrew Guerra home to give the Spartans a 4-0 advantage.
• The Lions responded, scoring twice in the bottom of the frame to cut the deficit to 4-2.
• Molloy would score a run in the third inning and sixth innings to tie the game at 4-4.
• STAC regained the lead in the top of the seventh via a Danny Di Marzo RBI sacrifice fly to right field, scoring Nick O'Connor to make it 5-4.
• A Patrick Hoffman single to center field in the bottom of the stanza, allowed Chris Peralta to score, tying the game at 5-5, and forcing extra innings.
• Matthew Johnson's double to left center field brought Christopher Conti, Nick O'Connor and Andrew Jemison around to score, giving STAC an 8-5 lead in the top of the eighth.
• Molloy rallied for four in the bottom of the eighth, on two RBI singles and a two-RBI double to take the game 9-8.
• TJ Gregory got the start for STAC in the second game, throwing two innings and giving up three hits and a pair of runs, while walking one to pick up the no-decision.
• The Spartans relief corps of Will Kindl, Yanni Orfanidis, Bryan Krolikowski, James Reilly, Aidan O'Connor and Justin Baeyens combined to pitch 5.2 innings, surrendering 12 hits and seven runs (six earned), while striking out four. Baeyens took the loss, falling to 1-1 on the season.

Up Next

STAC hosts Jefferson University in a non-conference tilt on Wednesday, April 6. First pitch is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. at Clover Stadium in Pomona.