NYACK, N.Y. (Feb. 22, 2019) – Louis Antos' bases-clearing, two-out double in the ninth inning bailed the Queens College baseball team out of a 5-2 hole on Friday (Feb. 22) in the Knights' season-opening game against Nyack. However, the game would go into extra innings and be called after ten innings with the score tied at 7-all, meaning that Queens would start off its year with a 0-0-1 record.

It is the first time in program history that the opening game of the season has ended in a draw; for Queens, it is also the third tie in program history and the first since March of 2005 when the Knights played to a 5-5 tie with Mercy College on Mar. 26. Ironically, Friday's result is the first tie that did not involve Mercy; the Knights' only other tie game was a 5-5 result in 1999 against the then-Flyers (now Mavericks).
 
Queens struck first in the opening inning by playing small ball against Nyack starter David Gauthier. Anthony Scotti led off with a walk and freshman Jon Strauss was issued a free pass as well. Antos reached on an infield single to load the bases for clean-up hitter Joe O'Rourke, who hit a sacrifice fly to center field to bring home the first run of the season. Nyack responded in the bottom of the first inning as Yoni Rodriguez reached on an error, advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt and then stole third and scored on another error by the Knights. The host Warriors went ahead by a run on an RBI single by Jonathan Santiago off of Queens starting pitcher Michael Lamneck.
 
It took the Knights until the fifth inning to respond as Strauss collected his first career hit and RBI with a single up the middle to score freshman Nick Font and even the game at 2-2. The bottom of the fifth proved to be Lamneck's undoing as two walks led to a two-run triple by Gauthier to put Nyack ahead by a 4-2 score and knock QC's starter out of the game. Brandon Hoskins relieved Lamneck and uncorked a wild pitch to score Gauthier and give the hosts a three-run lead; however, Hoskins held the Warriors at bay through the next three innings. Gauthier, meanwhile, kept Queens off the board through the seventh and David De Genaro allowed two hits in the top of the eighth but no runs. Nyack, meanwhile, loaded the bases in the bottom of the inning until Austin Fischer grounded into a 4-6-3 double play against Dimitri Papazoglou.
 
In the ninth inning, Font drew a one-out walk and was replaced on the base paths by Jayson Rodopoulos. Following back-to-back singles by Brian Watters and Scotti, the Knights had the bases loaded with one out. Strauss reached on a fielder's choice but no runs came home and Queens was down to its final out. Antos would get his revenge and rip a double to center field that scored all three runners to even the score. Queens would not push home another run in the inning and James McGee escaped the bottom of the ninth despite Nyack having the winning run at third base.
 
Eric Roubal started the top of the tenth inning with a triple to center field to put the go-ahead run on third base; Matt Riselvato reached on a fielder's choice as Roubal scampered home to push QC ahead. The junior transfer would later score on a fielder's choice off the bat of Brian Watters. The Knights loaded the bases with two outs in the tenth inning but Antos could not catch lightning in a bottle as he flew out to right field to end the threat. In the bottom of the inning, McGee induced two strikeouts to put Nyack against the wall. However, the Warriors came back after Jeremiah Alonzo drew a walk. Rodriguez and Fischer collected back-to-back RBI hits and Gauthier drew a walk to set up first and second with two outs. Jack Palma was summoned from the bullpen to make his Queens debut in a nervy spot, but the senior transfer induced Herman Alvarado to ground into a fielder's choice to end the inning. The game was ultimately suspended at that point due to plummeting temperatures.

Antos went 3-for-6 on the evening with two doubles and three runs batted in while Roubal also posted a three-hit game for the Knights. Queens had 11 hits on the afternoon while the Knights' pitching staff held Nyack to just seven hits in the tie. 

Lamneck went 4 1/3 innings, striking out five batters while yielding four earned runs in his first start of the season. Hoskins tossed three scoreless innings (allowing one inherited run to score that would be charged to Lamneck) and struck out three batters. Papazoglou went two-thirds of an inning while inducing the double play to push the game to the ninth inning. McGee struck out four in his near-two innings of work but surrendered two runs on three hits with two walks as Palma recorded the final out of the game.

The Knights and Warriors begin a doubleheader Saturday (Feb. 23) at 12 p.m.