Box Score 1 |
Box Score 2 FLUSHING, N.Y. - On a cold and sunny Sunday Afternoon, the Queens College Baseball team regrouped to beat St. Thomas Aquinas Spartans in an East Coast Conference double header from Hennekens Stadium. The Knights won game one 6-1, before taking game two 13-2. With the wins, the Knights improved to 13-15, 5-6 ECC, while the Spartans dropped to 21-9, 7-4 ECC.
GAME ONE:
The Knights got on board in top of the third as sophomore Karl Klesin singled to shortstop to score junior Ryan Bender. Junior Kevin Kolesar doubled the Knights advantage to 2-0 as he singled through left side to send sophomore Thomas Parish home with the eventual game winning run. Junior Joe Morris extended the Knights lead (3-0) the next inning as he grounded into a double play to send junior Jorge Ruiz home.
In the bottom of the sixth, QC starter Joseph Broderick ran into his only trouble on the day as Michael Morgan singled to center field to start the at bat. But Broderick got the next two outs with a strike out and pop out to short. Deven Del Priore cut into the lead (3-1) with a single through left field to score Morgan. Broderick ended the inning with a strike out of Joe Signore to leave two Spartans on base.
The Knights would essentially close out the game on the Spartans by plating three runs in the next two innings. Bender scored on Klesin's sacrifice fly out to center field to make it 4-1. Senior JP Koulotouros singled to center field to make it 5-1 as Parish advanced home. Freshmen Andrew Navarez capitalized on his fast speed to score (6-1) on a wild pitch to put the game out of reach.
Broderick (2-3) went the distance for his first complete game of the season as he limited the Spartans to three hits, one hit and struck out seven to earn the win. Anthony Morris (3-3) took the loss by allowing 10 tens, five runs, while striking out eight.
GAME TWO:
Looking to keep the momentum going, the Knights broke out the bats in the top of the fifth inning as Klesin connected on a bomb to left field for his first home run of the season to put the Knights on top 3-0. Ruiz singled to third base to send Kolesar home to make it 4-0. Knights starter Cameron Burt was unable to close to out the bottom of the sixth inning with two outs as he allowed the Spartans to cut into the lead 4-2. Junior Kyle Bell closed the inning as he got John DeAngelis to fly out to left field.
Once again, Queens put the game out of reach in the seventh and eighth innings as the Knights scored six runs off five hits highlighted by a Kolesar three run home run to left field. Kolesar who was intentionally walked in majority of his at bats in both games showed why the Spartans were willing to walk him. Senior Calvin Luk (S-1) earned his first save of the season as he got Joseph Pena to ground out to into a double play.
Burt (1-0) picked up his first win of the season as he continued the good work led by Broderick in game one by limiting the Spartans to two hits, two runs and a season high 10 strike outs. John Bednarek (3-1) took his first loss of the season after allowing seven hits, four runs.
UP NEXT: The Knights return to Hennekens Stadium Monday to complete the halted game two of the four game series against the Spartans with the game currently tied 4-4 entering the eighth inning (extras) set to resume at 4 pm.
