Box Score POMONA, N.Y. – St. Thomas Aquinas College scored twice in the bottom of the 10th inning to earn a 9-8 non-conference baseball victory over visiting Felician College on Tuesday afternoon at Provident Bank Park. St. Thomas Aquinas (22-10-1) overcame an early 5-1 deficit.
Senior shortstop Branden Shaw (Cooper City, Fla.) was on base six times for Felician (16-24). He went 4 for 4 with two doubles, walked twice, scored four runs and tied a Golden Falcon record with four stolen bases. Brandon Fischer (East Northport, N.Y.) was 4 for 5 with two doubles for the Spartans.
Much of the game's scoring came early, as Felician scored in each of the first four innings. Trailing 5-1 after 2 ½ frames, STAC plated three runs in the third, one in the fourth to pull to within 6-5, then took the lead with a two-run fifth.
The late innings became a duel between STAC junior right-hander Matt Kostalos (Staten Island, N.Y.) and Felician sophomore righty Rob Naughton (Levittown, N.Y.). The Golden Falcons reached Kostalos (6-2) for the tying run in the eighth after Shaw singled, stole second and third, and came home on an infield single by Jason Polgano (Bronx, N.Y.). The Spartans kept the game tied with right-fielder Giovanni Dingcong (Brooklyn, N.Y.) threw out a runner at the plate to end the top of the ninth.
Shaw doubled to left center with one out in the 10th and moved up on a balk. Two batters later, Brennan Price (Middlesex, N.J.) singled to put the Golden Falcons ahead, 8-7. But STAC loaded the bases with no one out in the bottom of the 10th off of Naughton (4-2), who had thrown three no-hit innings to that point. Spartan senior Stanley Susana (Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic) pinch-hit and looped a single to short left to score Deven Del Priore (Point Pleasant, N.J.) and Fischer to end the game.
Price had two sacrifice flies and drove in three runs for Felician.
The teams combined for 10 errors, 19 hits, and 18 walks. The game lasted three hours, 48 minutes.
