Pomona, N.Y. - The St. Thomas Aquinas College Baseball team dropped its third straight game on Wednesday afternoon, falling to crosstown rivals Dominican University, 8-7, in the team's 2023 home opener at Clover Stadium.

STAC slips to 6-10 on the year, while Dominican improves to 2-17.

HOW IT HAPPENED

• St. Thomas Aquinas College took a 2-0 lead in the second inning when Gregory DiGiaro crushed a two-run homer to left field.
• A three-run fifth flipped the scoreboard in favor of the visiting chargers. First, a Peter Kiefer two-out single up the middle, scored Jean Nunez. Next, Kiefer made his way home via an RBI double to left field by Tyler Richman to tie the score at 2-2.
• Dominican took the lead on a Ty Gilligan double down the left field line, scoring Richman to make it 3-2.
• Another big inning, this time a four-run seventh, blew the game open. Peter Kiefer's double down the left field line, scored David Knepper, followed by Ty Gilligan's single through the right side to plate Kiefer and make it 5-2.
• Phil Whitney then singled to left field, with Tyler Richman making his way home to increase the Chargers lead to 6-2.
• A wild pitch by a STAC pitcher, combined by an error by the Spartans catcher, allowed Ty Gilligan to make his way home from second base, to make it 7-2.
• The maroon and gold began to dig themselves out of trouble in the bottom of the frame, as Justin Klayman's groundout brought Sean Lynch to the plate, cutting the deficit to 7-3.
• In the eighth, STAC continued to battle back, scoring three more runs to pull within one at 7-6. A Nick O'Connor strikeout, combined with a passed ball gave the green light for David Potenza to make his way home from third base. An Andrew Guerra RBI groundout scored Andrew Jemison to make it 7-5.
• Sean Lynch's RBI groundout completed the trip around the bases for Nick O'Conner and cut the margin on the scoreboard to just one.
• The Chargers got a run back in the ninth on an RBI single to right-center field, which scored Peter Kiefer and made it an 8-6 game.
• STAC continued its rallying cry, in the bottom of the frame. Following Gregory DiGiaro's hit by pitch and a walk to Kyle DeCresce, the Spartans made consecutive outs, leaving them down to their final hitter Andrew Jemison.
• However, a little bit of luck came up the maroon and gold, when DU pitcher John Stoliker uncorked a wild pitch to advance the runners. DiGiaro made his way to the plate, making it 8-7, while DeCresce stood just 90 feet from tying the game.
• Unfortunately, the Spartans' good fortunes ran out as Jemison flew out to centerfield to end the game.

STAC PERFORMANCES

• Gregory DiGiaro went 2-for-3 with a home run, 2 RBI and two runs scored on the day.
• C.J. Cumbo recorded two hits in three at-bats, with a run scored, while also earning two walks.
• Andrew Jemison (2), Andrew Guerra (1), Sean Lynch (1) and Joseph Scamardella (1) also posted hits for the Spartans
• John Dezago got the start for St. Thomas Aquinas, hurling four and a third innings, and giving up seven hits and only one run, while fanning one.
• The Spartans bullpen (Will Kindl, Mateo Reyes, Jeremiah Vega, Bryan Krolikowski and Ryan Callaghan) was tasked with keeping the game within reach. Unfortunately, the four relievers combined to surrender nine hits, seven runs (six earned), while striking out six over four and two third innings.
• Kindl (0-1) was tagged with the loss for giving up two runs on three hits in his third of an inning pitched.

FACTS & FIGURES

• The Spartans posted 7 runs on 9 hits, with 1 error, while Dominican earned 8 runs on 16 hits, with 2 errors.
• STAC pitchers struck out 7 Chargers batters, while issuing no walks on the day.
• St. Thomas Aquinas stranded 12 runners on base. Dominican left 5. 

UP NEXT

STAC makes its way to Western New York for a four-game series with ECC foe D'Youville University, March 24-26 at Bobo Field on the campus of Niagara University.