Miami Shores, Fla. - As the first Spring Break trip got underway for the Panthers since 2020, the Adelphi University baseball team walked off against St. Thomas Aquinas College, 8-7, at Barry University's Feinbloom Field on Friday.

A team that came in with just two first-inning runs, Adelphi (4-5) exploded for a six-run first in its opening turn at-bat.

After back-to-back walks were issued to Johnny Catuosco and Alex Rende to lead off the Adelphi first, Anthony Cipri unloaded on the first pitch he saw for a three-run homer.

The Panthers batted around in the first inning and drove three more runs home, courtesy of an RBI single by Tim Feliz and a two-out, two-RBI single by Albert Ramos.

Adelphi threatened for more in the second, when the first two batters reached to set up runners on the corners. STAC's Aaron Dona then struck out the side in order, leaving the gate open for a potential Spartan comeback.

Although John Rizzo struck out five consecutive batters over his first 2.1 innings, STAC slowly started to close the gap and eventually came all the way back to level the score at 6-6.

Tommy O'Sullivan, who got the win in relief, came on in the eighth and threw three clean innings, despite working in and out of trouble in the eighth and ninth.

As the Panthers came to bat in the 10th, Cooper Johnson led off with a walk, and Kyle Olson lined a pinch-hit double to put the winning run 90 feet away.

With no one out in the inning, Cipri was intentionally walked to set up the force at every base. Upon drawing a 2-0 count, Alec Maag dropped a game-winning fly into right for the win.

O'Sullivan has made four appearances so far this season and let up one run or fewer in each, resulting in a 2.16 earned-run average. Cipri was a stunning 4-for-5 with the bat and raised his average to .371 on the season.

Head Coach Bill Ianniciello and his Adelphi squad will look to even up its record Saturday (Mar. 11) against Barry University at 6 p.m. in Miami Shores.