PACE BASEBALL WINS REGULAR SEASON OPENER 6-3 OVER
SAINT THOMAS AQUINAS COLLEGE

WEST HARRISON, NY- The Pace University baseball team took their first game of the season, 6-3, in a non-conference matchup over the Saint Thomas Aquinas College at Passidomo Park on Friday afternoon.

The win will move the Setters to 1-0 on the season, while the loss will drop the Spartans to 0-1.

Pace got off to a quick start in this game thanks to some solid pitching, and patient hitting by the Setters. The Setters got an excellent start from Senior Nicholas DeMeo (Farmingville, NY/Sachem East) (Farmingville, NY/Sachem East) who pitched four hitless innings with six strikeouts, and five walks mixed in.

DeMeo got some quick support from his Setter teammates as Pace put up a five spot in the first inning over the Spartans. The inning got started with a hard hit JJ Conrad (Hamburg, NJ/Wallkill Valley) (Hamburg, NJ/Wallkill Valley) single down the left-field line. After a Christopher Spatkowski (Bristol, CT/Bristol Eastern) (Bristol, CT/Bristol Eastern) walk the Setters had runners on first and second with no outs. Andre Liscinsky (Trumbull, CT/Trumbull) (Trumbull, CT/Trumbull) then delivered the first big hit of the game with a RBI single up the middle to drive in the first run of the season to give Pace a 1-0 lead. With runners on second and third now Joe Cotone (Yorktown Hts., NY/Lakeland) (Yorktown, Heights, NY/Lakeland) had a sacrifice groundout to shortstop scoring Spatkowski on the play to make it 2-0 Pace. The clutch hits kept coming for Pace with Liscinsky standing on third Vinny Dammann (Mullica Hill, NJ/Gloucester Catholic) (Mullica Hill, NJ/Gloucester Catholic) knocked a single past the diving first baseman to drive in the third Setter run to make the score 3-0. The Setters went on to score two more runs in the inning thanks to two Saint Thomas Aquinas wild pitches to make the score 5-0 after one inning. Pace finished the first inning of the year with five runs scored, on four hits, and one left on base. Saint Thomas Aquinas starter Brian LaMarr had a rough afternoon going four innings giving up four hits, and five earned runs.

Junior Michael Mastrogiovanni (Glen Rock, NJ/Glen Rock) (Glen Rock, NJ/Glen Rock) (1-0) came in to replace DeMeo in the top of the fifth. Mastrogiovanni went on to pitch the next two innings giving up four hits, and one run, but in the process picked up the win. After six innings Pace remained comfortably ahead of Saint Thomas Aquinas with a 5-1 lead.

The Setters went on to add another run in the bottom of the seventh to make the score 6-1  thanks to another RBI single to center field by Liscinsky scoring Conrad.

Heading into the top of the ninth Pace was up with a comfortable 6-1 lead but that wouldn't last as Saint Thomas Aquinas had one more rally in them. The Spartans scored two runs off of three Pace relievers to make the score 6-3 before Michael Sciarretta (Stamford, CT/Stamford) (Stamford, CT/Stamford) came in to close the door for his first save of the season.

The Pace offense was led by Liscinsky who finished 2-for-4 with two RBI's, and one run scored. Conrad also had a solid game with a single, and two runs scored.

Pace is back in action on Saturday, February 28 as the Setters will play two more games at Passidomo Park against Saint Thomas Aquinas College. The first game is scheduled to start at 12:00 p.m.