Manchester, N.H. - The St. Thomas Aquinas
College baseball team saw its record-breaking season come to a
conclusion after an 8-1 loss to Wilmington University at the NCAA
East Regional in Manchester, New Hampshire. The Spartans season
concludes with a school record for wins and an 39-14 record, which
included the program's first-ever national ranking and NCAA
Tournament appearance. Wilmington, the top seed in the region,
advances in the loser's bracket and improved to 41-12.
As they had the day before in a loss against Pace University, the
Spartans helped dig an early hole for themselves, with an error
leading to a pair of unearned runs and a 3-0 deficit. Another
unearned marker spelled and early end of the day for STAC's Rob
Naughton, who worked just 1.2 innings and allowed four runs, one
earned.
Wilmington tacked on a pair in the fourth and two more in the
seventh, which was more than enough for starter Ray Gambone, who
dominated STAC in allowing just two hits over eight innings of
work. The Spartans got on the board in the final frame with Efrian
Bautista's single bringing home Nick Barbalato. Naughton, the ECC
Co-Rookie-of-the-Year, was tagged with his first collegiate loss,
falling to 6-1 overall.
The Spartans received their just reward for their memorable
campaign. In addition to their East Coast Conference championship
and NCAA appearance, STAC captured major conference awards as Mike
Russo was named ECC Player-of-the-Year, Naughton earned Rookie
honors, and Scott Muscat was tapped as Coach-of-the-Year. The team
is sure to be well represented as additional awards are named in
the coming weeks.
Provided by the St. Thomas Aquinas Sports Information Department.