Big First Inning Leads Purple Knights To 9-0 Win Over St. Thomas Aquinas

West Haven, Conn.-The University of Bridgeport baseball team sent 12 men to the plate and scored eight runs in the bottom of the first inning, as the Purple Knights cruised to a 9-0 East Coast Conference win over the St. Thomas Aquinas College Spartans on a chilly Friday night.  The win raises UB's overall record 14-7, and Bridgeport is now 7-4 in conference action.  STAC now stands at 16-13-1 overall and 7-5 in the ECC.

A bases-clearing double by junior Eric Schlitter (Guilford, Conn.), who went 2-for-4 with three runs batted in on the night, and a two-run triple by Matt Nassi (Jr., N. Providence, R.I.), who also went 2-for-4 in the game, highlighted the Purple Knights' big first inning.

Senior captain Gaetano Giunta (Brooklyn, N.Y.) had a fine night at the plate leading an 11-hit Bridgeport attack by going 3-for-4 with two runs scored and one RBI.

On the mound, junior starter Shaun Hancock (Oakville, Ontario, Canada) and senior reliever Anthony Plomitallo (New Hyde Park, N.Y.) combined on a four-hit shutout.  As a team, Bridgeport has now blanked the opposition four times during the 2011 season.

Hancock raised his season record to 5-1 by pitching five scoreless innings in which he allowed only two hits while striking out six batters.

Plomitallo picked up his first save of the season by firing four shutout innings to close the game in which he allowed only two hits while striking out three.

Bridgeport and St. Thomas Aquinas will continue their five-game ECC series on Saturday morning at 10:00 a.m. when the two teams hit the field at the Ballpark at Harbor Yard for a doubleheader.  UB's win on Friday night evened the series between the two teams at one game apiece.