UNIONDALE, N.Y. (Apr. 28, 2017) – The Molloy baseball team dropped a doubleheader to St. Thomas Aquinas Saturday afternoon at Mitchel Field. The maroon and white lost both games 8-7. The Lions move to 17-24 overall and 10-11 in East Coast Conference play.

Game One: Molloy 7, STAC 8

The Lions fell to the Spartans, 8-7, in 10 innings in the first game. Freshman Anthony Masiano (Staten Island, N.Y.) hit a go-ahead single in the top of the 10^th.

STAC (31-13, 15-5 ECC) opened the scoring in the first inning to make it 1-0.

Molloy took the lead in the second inning. Senior Anthony Galanoudis (Farmingdale, N.Y.) doubled to right to drive in a run and knot the score at one. Later in the frame, senior Austin Nieves (Glendale, N.Y.) grounded out to second to score senior Ryan Dillon (Medford, N.Y.) to put the maroon and white up, 2-1.

The Spartans scored the next four runs to make it a 5-2 contest.

The Lions fought back in the fifth, senior Michael Rahn (Sayville, N.Y.) singled to center field to score senior Brian Murphy (Elmont, N.Y.) and Galanoudis to cut the lead to 5-4. After junior Angelo Navetta (Staten Island, N.Y.) was hit by a pitch, senior Anthony Alberghina (Staten Island, N.Y.) drilled a two-run double, which scored Rahn and Navetta, to put the home team back on top, 6-5. Molloy capped the five-run inning with junior Elijah Leerdam (Jamaica, N.Y.) scoring on a passed ball to bring the lead to 7-5.

The road team scored two runs to tie the game in the sixth, 7-7, before winning the game in extra innings.

Junior Shawn Klotsche (Wantagh, N.Y.) gave up a run in two innings in the losing effort.

Game Two: Molloy 7, STAC 8

Navetta recorded two hits and drove in three runs, but Molloy fell in the second game 8-7.

STAC opened the scoring in the top of the first to go-ahead 1-0.

The Lions answered in the bottom of the frame. Rahn hit an RBI single, which scored Murphy to tie the score at one.

The Spartans took a one-run lead, 2-1, again in the top of the second.

Like it did in the first, Molloy tied the score, 2-2, on a wild pitch, which scored freshman Jake Saltzman (Old Bethpage, N.Y.).

The maroon and white jumped ahead after Navetta hit a solo homer to right field to make it 3-2 in the third inning.

STAC scored six straight runs, on six RBIs from Nicholas Lucchese (Long Island, N.Y.), to take an 8-3 advantage.

In the fifth, Navetta drilled a two-RBI double to left field to cut the lead to 8-5. Later in the inning, Rahn drove Navetta home with a single to shrink the lead to 8-6.

Freshman Sean Hogan (East Meadow, N.Y.) hit an RBI double in the sixth inning, but that was as close as the Lions would get in their 8-7 loss.

Molloy returns home Wednesday (May 3) when it hosts Dominican College.