Uniondale, N.Y. - The St. Thomas Aquinas College Baseball team saw its 2022 season come to an end, as the Spartans were eliminated from the ECC Baseball Tournament by Molloy College by the score of 16-4 on Friday afternoon at Mitchel Field.

STAC closes its campaign at 23-23 overall and 14-7 in conference play, while the top seeded Lions improve to 34-12 and advance to the championship final, facing #2 Queens College on Saturday afternoon.

How it Happened

• Molloy scored three times in the bottom of the first inning on an RBI triple to right field by Matt Overton, an RBI single up the middle by Garrett Scavelli and an RBI double to left field to make it 3-0.
• A pair of RBI singles through the left side by Thomas Brady and Matt Overton in the second, plated three more runs to stretch the hosts' lead to 6-0.
• St. Thomas Aquinas would finally break the shutout in the bottom of the frame on a solo home run to left field by Gregory DiGiaro, making it 6-1.
• The Lions regained their six-run advantage via a Robby Keane RBI single to center field in the third inning to make it 7-1.
• Five more runs by Molloy in the sixth and seventh innings put the Lions in the driver's seat, courtesy of a Patrick Hoffman RBI double to right field, a Chris Einemann RBI double to left-center field, a bases loaded walk to David Franchi and a Patrick Hoffman 2-RBI single through the left side made it 12-1.
• The Spartans scored twice in the bottom of the seventh inning on a Sean Lynch RBI single to left field, scoring Eric Volpi. Then, an Andrew Jemison RBI single to the shortstop, brought Andrew Guerra to the plate to make it 12-3.
• Molloy posted four more runs in the eighth on a Matt Overton bases loaded walk, followed by a David Franchi 2-RBI double to left-center field and finally a Patrick Hoffman RBI single to right field, giving the Lions a 16-3 advantage.
• STAC closed the scoring in the bottom of the frame on an Eric Volpi solo shot to left field, making it 16-4, which would be the final outcome.
• Mark Barillas got the start in the elimination game and lasted only an inning and a third, allowing four hits and six runs, while walking three and striking out one. Barillas took the loss and moved to 3-3 on the season.
• Yanni Orfanidis, Andrew Alameda, Justin Baeyens, Matthew Polemeni, Orin Winslow and Mateo Reyes were tasked with keeping the Spartans deficit at six in order to attempt a comeback. However, the six relievers combined to surrender 14 hits and 10 runs, while walking nine and fanning seven over the final 7.2 innings.

Top STAC Performances

• Gregory DiGiaro and Eric Volpi blasted solo home runs for the Spartans.
• Andrew Guerra went 2-for-4 in the game with a double and a run scored.
• Andrew Jemison (2-5, RBI) and Sean Lynch (2-4, RBI) recorded multi-hit games.