Myrtle Beach, S.C – The St. Thomas Aquinas Spartans opened their baseball season with a split against the Le Moyne Dolphins. 

Game 1 was a two and a half hour affair with the Spartans routing the Dolphins 13-4. A three-run first inning coupled with eight runs in four consecutive innings gave the Spartans a lead they would not lose.

The bottom of the first saw Greg Di Garo hit an RBI double and Andrew Guerra follow up with a two-run home run. 

Guerra went 3-4 with two home runs, three RBI’s, three hits, and four runs scored. Di Garo went 1-4 with one hit, one RBI, two runs scored, and a hit by pitch.

In the bottom of the second, the Spartans took advantage of two major miscues as the speedy David Potenza reached on an error and scored on an error.  

CJ Cumbo went 2-for-3 with an RBI, two walks, and two runs scored. His RBI single in the third scored Di Garo.

Left fielder Nick O’Connor went 2-4 with an RBI single in the third inning and a grand slam in the sixth. O’Connor had five RBIs on the day.

Aaron Dona started the first game for the Spartans, allowing five hits over seven innings. Two of the three runs he allowed were earned. 

Dona struck out seven batters and allowed five walks in the win. Dona was relieved by Jeremiah Vega who allowed one run over two innings.

The Spartans delivered a dominant performance in Game 1 tallying thirteen runs, eleven hits, and one error.

In a low-scoring second game that lasted only 8 innings, the Spartans lost 2-1, despite a strong pitching performance by the graduate John Archer. 

Archer threw six innings, allowing one run on five hits, with three strikeouts and three walks.

The only Spartan run came on a game-tying single by catcher Sean Lynch that brought home Nick O’Connor, who came in to pinch run for Kyle LaGrutta.

Reliever Bryan Krolikowski earned the loss, after giving up a walk-off single down the line to Le Moyne right fielder Wyatt Patchet.

The Spartans only mustered a total of two hits and struck out twelve times. 

The next game occurs at 11:00 on Saturday, February 25th against Franklin Pierce University at Ripken Experience, Myrtle Beach.