Cary, N.C. - The St. Thomas Aquinas College Baseball team suffered the "Thrill of Victory and the Agony of Defeat", on Saturday afternoon, as the Spartans split a doubleheader with the College of Saint Rose (L, 20-6) and Franklin Pierce University (W, 1-0) at the USA Baseball National Training Complex. 

How it Happened

Game One: 

• After the Golden Knights took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning, STAC evened the score via a Danny Di Marzo RBI single to center field, scoring Ryan Lutz.
• Saint Rose went ahead 7-1 with runs in the second, fourth and fifth innings.
• A Gregory DiGiaro three-run homer to left field cut the lead to three at 7-4.
• The teams would trade runs in the seventh with Zephaniah Vaughn drawing a bases loaded walk, scoring Jack McDonald to push the Saint Rose lead to 8-4. However, Danny Di Marzo would get the run back on a single to left field, which would wind up scoring Ryan Lutz on a throwing error to make it 8-5.
• Another seven run outburst by the Golden Knights, this time all within the eighth inning, gave Saint Rose a commanding 19-5 advantage.
• In the bottom of the inning, Tommy Guidice singled to left field, with Arthur Xanthos coming around to score, and making it a 19-6 game.
• Saint Rose earned one final run in the ninth on a Quentin Bowman RBI single, scoring Connor Dolan.
• TJ Gregory (0-2) took the loss for STAC, giving up eight hits and seven runs (six earned), while walking one and K'ing two over four and a third innings.

Game Two: 

• A pitcher's duel between the Spartans and Ravens, saw only one run come across home plate.
• In the second inning, following a one-out Gregory DiGiaro double, Andrew Guerra reached first base on an error with DiGiaro coming around to score for STAC, making it 1-0.
• John Archer put together a stellar pitching performance, picking up his first win of 2022. Archer threw seven scoreless innings, only giving up four hits and a walk, while fanning five.
• Justin Baeyens and James Reilly (SV, 1) would lock down the victory with solid relief pitching, combining to only surrender one hit, while striking out four over two innings.

Up Next

St. Thomas Aquinas closes out its four-game Cary road trip on Sunday, March 6 against the University of New Haven. First pitch is scheduled for 11:00 a.m. at the USA Baseball National Training Complex.