Posted: Mar 24, 2008
- Veterans Memorial Field (Orangeburg, NY)
Starting Pitcher Anthony Russo (Brooklyn, NY) and freshman reliever Mark Fochesato (Middletown, NY) combined for 6 1/3 shutout innings and then handed the ball off to closer Jonathan Della Monica (Tappan, NY), who pitched a scoreless 8th and 9th inning to give St. Thomas a 4-3 victory over local rival Dominican College.
The Spartans struck first in the 3rd on a single from Pat Murray (Demarest, NJ) and an RBI ground ball from John Mazzello (Hyde Park, NY). Dominican answered with 3 runs in the 5th to take a 3-1 lead.
STAC would respond with 3 runs in the 7th to take a 4-3 lead. A lead-off single from freshman Kevin Ryan (Levittown, NY), followed by a walk from freshman Joe Antenucci (Emerson, NJ) would set the stage for a 3-run 7th. A stolen base, a Dominican error, and a ground RBI from Murray evened the game at 3-3. Seniors Mike Triana (New Milford, NJ) and Mazzello followed with back-to-back doubles and the Spartans recaptured the lead 4-3.
Della Monica struckout two Dominican batters in a easy 8th inning, but put himself in a difficult spot in the 9th after allowing a lead-off walk and giving up a double. An intentional walk to the next batter loaded the bases with no outs. He then struck out the next two batters and got the final out on a slicing line drive to right field, which Pat Murray gloved to record the final out and secure Della Monica's 4th save of the season. Fochesato picked up his 2nd victory.