St. Thomas Aquinas Holds Off Baseball, 6-5
Box Score
YAPHANK, N.Y. (May 4, 2012) – In a battle of the two first place teams in the East Coast Conference, the Saint Thomas Aquinas Spartans came away with a 6-5 decision over the C.W. Post baseball team on Friday afternoon at Baseball Heaven.
C.W. Post goes to 26-16 overall and 15-6 overall, dropping into a tie with Dowling for second place, while the Spartans move to 31-15 overall and claim sole possession of first place with a 16-5 slate.
STAC took a 3-0 lead in the first after three consecutive singles loaded the bases. A single to center by Andrew Hancsak was misplayed, clearing the bases and giving the Spartans a 3-0 lead.
The Pioneers got on the board in the fourth as junior Keith Herring (New York, N.Y.) roped a two-run home run to left field, making it 3-2 in favor of the Spartans.
C.W. Post tied the score in the fifth inning as Anthony Brunetti roped a one-out, bases loaded single to center field. However, a runner was thrown out at the plate attempting to score the go ahead run, than the Spartans threw out the runner trying to advance to third to end the inning.
The Spartans took back the lead in the sixth as Mike Russo belted a three-run home run. C.W. Post again drew the game to a one-run contest with a two-run home run by junior second baseman Angel Pimentel (New York, N.Y.), making it a 6-5 score.
The Pioneers threatened in the ninth as sophomore Tom Tolan (Malverne, N.Y.) lined a single to center with two outs and a runner on second, but again the Spartan defense came through as they cut down the runner at the plate for the final out of the game.
The loss went to senior pitcher Paul Bischoff (Levittown, N.Y.), who went 6.0 innings and scattered seven hits, striking out a career-high 10 batters. Eric Cooper earned the win for STAC, going seven and a third and giving up ten hits. Joe DePool got the save with 1.2 innings on one-hit pitching.
C.W. Post closes out the regular season with three games against Dowling this weekend, starting with a 12 noon doubleheader tomorrow.