Purple Knights Fall To Number One Seed St. Thomas Aquinas, 9-5, In Opening Game Of ECC Baseball Championship Tournament

Pomona, N.Y.-The number one seed St. Thomas Aquinas College Spartans scored seven runs in the bottom of the fourth inning to take an 8-2 lead which they never relinquished, as STAC held on for a 9-5 win over the number four seed University of Bridgeport Purple Knights in the opening game of the 2012 East Coast Conference Baseball Championship Tournament on Thursday afternoon.  With the victory, the Spartans (34-16) move on to the winner's bracket game which will take place at 12 noon on Friday.  UB (16-20) will play an elimination game at 9:00 a.m. on Friday morning against C.W. Post.

The Purple Knights got off to a good start on Thursday grabbing a 2-0 lead on RBI singles by senior Eric Schlitter (Guilford, Conn.) in the first inning and junior Mike Olszyk (Hamden, Conn.) in the third inning.  STAC rallied for a run in the third before scoring seven runs on six hits plus taking advantage of two Bridgeport errors in the bottom of the fourth.

UB rallied for three runs in the seventh inning scoring on a passed ball and base loaded walks to seniors Ryan Barba (Stratford, Conn.) and Matt Nassi (N. Providence, R.I.).

Senior Nick Vautrin (S. Hadley, Mass.) was the starter and loser for the Purple Knights.  Vautrin, who is now 4-8 on the year, pitched 3.1 innings in which he allowed seven runs

Eric Cooper worked 6.2 innings to get the win on the mound for the Spartans. Ken Frawley worked the final 2.1 innings of the game to record the save.

Bridgeport sophomore second baseman John Ascenzia (West Haven, Conn.) went 4-for-4 at the plate with one walk and three runs scored on the day.