Purple Knights Nipped By St. Thomas Aquinas, 3-2, To Open 2018 ECC Baseball Championship Tournament

Uniondale, N.Y.-The fourth-seeded University of Bridgeport baseball team was nipped 3-2 by the top-seeded St. Thomas Aquinas College Spartans in the opening game of the 2018 East Coast Conference Baseball Championship Tournament being hosted by Molloy College at Mitchel Field in Uniondale, New York.  UB is now 14-33 overall; while STAC moves to 34-13 on the season.

After the Spartans took a 1-0 advantage on a lead-off home run in the bottom of the first inning, the Purple Knights came back to take a 2-1 lead on a two-out, two-RBI single up the middle by senior Isaiah Rivera (Newington, Conn.), who finished the day with a pair of hits.

STAC would retake the lead with by scoring two runs with two outs in the bottom of the sixth on a double by Bobby Morse.

Senior Mark Hirschbeck (Trumbull, Conn.) also finished with two hits on the afternoon for Bridgeport.

Sophomore Jason Burger (Orlando, Fla.) was the hard-luck loser on the mound for UB to see his season mark fall to 4-3, as he worked a complete game in which he allowed only four hits.

Up next, Bridgeport will be in action in an elimination game on Friday morning at 9:30 a.m. against the loser of Thursday's second game between LIU Post and Molloy.