POMONA, N.Y. (Mar. 31, 2023) – Powered by a three-run home run from graduate student Steven Schoen (Hopewell Junction, N.Y./Sacred Heart University) in game one, the Mercy College baseball team earned a 5-4 win over ECC foe St. Thomas Aquinas College before falling 5-4 in game two on Friday afternoon at Clover Stadium.

The Mavericks (5-20, 1-5 ECC) snap an eight-game losing streak with the game one win and pick up their first ECC win of the season. The Spartans (10-13, 4-2 ECC) snap a three-game losing streak with the game two win.

Game 1: Mercy 5, STAC 4

Mercy jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the top of the first. Sophomore Jaden Caballero (Newburgh, N.Y./Newburgh Free Academy) singled and senior Nolan Giblin (Syracuse, N.Y./Jamesville-Dewitt) walked to put runners on first and second. Schoen then hit a home run to right center to give the Mavericks an early 3-0 lead.

The score remained 3-0 until the bottom of the second when Nick O'Connor hit a leadoff home run to make it 3-1.

Mercy got the run back in the top of the third to take a 4-1 lead. Schoen was hit by a pitch with two outs and scored on a sophomore Joseph Gonzalez (Monroe, N.Y./Rockland CC) RBI double to give the Mavericks a 4-1 lead.

The Spartans scored a run in the sixth inning on a David Potenza RBI single to make it 4-2.

Mercy increased the lead back to three with a run in the seventh inning. Freshman Sean McAdams (Fairfield, Conn./Fairfield Ludlowe) singled to lead off the inning and scored on a Giblin RBI single to right field to make it 5-2.

STAC scored two runs in the bottom of the seventh to make it 5-4, but senior Ryan Dieguez (Westbury, N.Y./Chaminade) got a popup to end the inning with the bases loaded.

Freshmen Diego Wirz (Stamford, Conn./Stamford) and Marcos Feliz (Boston, Mass./Southern New Hampshire University) pitched a scoreless eighth and ninth inning to give the Mavericks the 5-4 game one win.

Schoen went 1-for-4 with three RBI and his first home run as a Maverick and Giblin went 3-for-4 with an RBI. Gonzalez went 2-for-4 with an RBI and senior Janiel Ramirez (Windsor, Conn./The College of Saint Rose) went 2-for-4. McAdams and junior Gabe Sanders (Dunedin, Fla./Central Alabama CC) both went 1-for-4 and Caballero went 1-for-5. Sophomore Scott Scheppy (Newburgh, N.Y./Newburgh Free Academy) allowed four runs in six innings to earn his first win of the season. Feliz earned his first collegiate save with a scoreless ninth inning.

STAC was led by O'Connor who went 2-for-5 with an RBI. Aaron Dona allowed four earned runs in seven innings to take the loss.

Mercy had 11 hits and two errors and STAC had nine hits and one error.

Game 2: STAC 5, Mercy 4

Mercy took a 4-0 lead in the top of the first. Junior Jared Hernandez (Moca, P.R./Friends University) led off the game with a walk and Caballero singled to put runners on first and second. Giblin then singled home Hernandez to make it 1-0. After a flyout for the first out of the inning, Gonzalez singled to right field, scoring Caballero to give Mercy a 2-0 lead. Sanders then singled home Giblin and Gonzalez also scored after an error by the STAC leftfielder to give the Mavericks an early 4-0 lead.

The Spartans scored a run in the bottom of the second on a C.J. Cumbo home run to make it 4-1.

It stayed 4-1 until the fourth inning when the Spartans scored two runs to cut Mercy's lead to one, 4-3. Kyle DeCresce recorded a two-run single during the inning.

STAC tied the game at 4-4 in the bottom of the fifth on a Kyle Lagrutta sacrifice fly to right field.

The game was tied until the bottom of the seventh when Cumbo hit a walk-off RBI single to left field, scoring Andrew Jemison to give the Spartans a 5-4 game two win.

Caballero went 2-for-4 with a run and Gonzalez went 1-for-2 with an RBI. Giblin and Sanders both went 1-for-3 with an RBI and McAdams went 1-for-3. Junior Ryan Rozinski (Middletown, N.J./Middletown North) allowed three runs in four innings to take a no-decision. Graduate student Ryan DeMille (Millstone, N.J./Dominican University) pitched two scoreless innings of relief and senior John Gillespie (Massapequa Park, N.Y./Massapequa) pitched 0.1 innings with one run allowed to take the loss.

STAC was led by Cumbo who went 2-for-3 with two RBI. John Archer pitched six innings with three earned runs allowed to earn a no-decision. Mateo Reyes pitched a scoreless inning of relief to earn the win.

Mercy had six hits and no errors and STAC had five hits and two errors.

Head Coach Chris Schoen and the Mavericks resume action on Sunday, April 2nd when they host STAC at 12 p.m.