Kostalos Pitches STAC Past Molloy, 5-2, on Second Day of NCAA East Regional
RINDGE, N.H. (May 20, 2016) -- Senior right-hander Matt Kostalos bounced back after a rough top of the first inning on Thursday night and wound up going the distance on Friday morning at Dr. Arthur and Martha Pappas Field. The offense of third-seeded St. Thomas Aquinas found him five runs on Friday, and the Spartans picked up a 5-2 win over sixth-seeded Molloy in the third game of the NCAA Championship East Regional, hosted by Franklin Pierce University. The game was originally scheduled for Thursday night, but lasted just eight minutes before rain forced its suspension until Friday morning.
With the win, St. Thomas Aquinas improves to 36-15 and advances to take on seventh-seeded Dowling at 8:30 p.m. on Friday. With the loss, Molloy falls to 31-22 and will play an elimination contest against second-seeded Southern New Hampshire at 1:30 p.m. on Friday.
Kostalos (8-0) used 132 pitches (87 strikes) over two days to go the distance and dispatch Molloy. He allowed two runs and threw a six-hitter, walked just one, threw two wild pitches and struck out three.
The two teams traded a run each across 15 hours and two days in the first inning. On Thursday night, in the top of the first inning, Molloy junior third baseman Kevin Podell knocked a dribbler up the third-base line and reached on an infield single without a throw. He then moved to second on a groundout and scored when junior designated hitter Elijah Leerdam hit a ball off the end of the bat and dumped an RBI single the other way into right-center.
Shortly after the resumption of play on Friday morning, St. Thomas Aquinas sophomore shortstop Joseph Pena led off the bottom of the first with a line-drive triple past the first baseman and down the right-field line, and later scored on a sacrifice fly to deep center field by junior catcher Devel Del Priore.
St. Thomas Aquinas jumped out front for good with two runs in the bottom of the fourth inning. After a leadoff walk to senior left fielder Nichols Gargan, sophomore right fielder Giovanni Dingcong stepped into a 1-1 pitch and hit a two-run home run of an estimated 350 feet to straightaway left field, his team-leading sixth of the season.
The Spartans would add a run in the bottom of the fifth on a sacrifice fly by junior first baseman Joe Boland and another on an error in the bottom of the seventh. Molloy picked up its second run via a wild pitch in the top of the eighth to create the 5-2 final.
Junior right-hander Ronald Bauer (7-4) threw 82 pitches (48 strikes) over the first four-plus innings on the mound for Molloy. He allowed four runs on three hits, walked five, threw a wild pitch and struck out five.