FLUSHING, N.Y. (Apr. 12, 2019) - Hennekens Stadium was Dennis Buckstein's world on Friday (Apr. 12) and the Queens College baseball team was fortunate to have him on their side for a 4-2 victory over East Coast Conference foe Molloy in the opening game of a four-game series.

Buckstein (4-1) struck out eleven batters over his eight innings of work for the Knights (18-11-1, 8-5 ECC), surrendering just one earned run on seven hits in a statement-making performance against Molloy (9-20, 6-7 ECC). Kevin Kochen pitched a 1-2-3 ninth inning to pick up his second save of the season.

QC took a 1-0 lead in the third inning with Brian Watters scoring on a wild pitch after moving first-to-third on a single by Jon Strauss. Molloy tied the game in the top of the fourth on an RBI single by Jake McCarthy but the Knights put the game away in the bottom of the fifth inning. A one-out single by Anthony Scotti started a hit parade for the hosts which led to run-scoring singles off the bats of Watters and Strauss. Queens tacked on a run as Strauss stole second base, allowing Watters to scamper home from third.

Buckstein yielded a run in the top of the seventh inning on a run-scoring hit by James Messina, but he kept the Lions at bay for the remainder of the game and topped 120 pitches in the eighth inning as he induced three straight ground-outs to keep Molloy off the scoreboard for the rest of the contest.

Queens will visit Uniondale to take on Molloy in an ECC doubleheader on Saturday (Apr. 13) beginning at 12 p.m.