FLUSHING, N.Y. (Apr. 29, 2019) - Admittedly, the forecast for the Queens College baseball team looked---on the outside---as bleak as the Monday (Apr. 29) clouds that had turned a cold afternoon into a brisk early evening in Flushing. Perhaps the Knights knew something that the rest of those at Hennekens Stadium didn't, however. Queens stormed back from a 7-1 deficit in the bottom of the eighth inning to score seven times and score a miracle 8-7 victory over Saint Thomas Aquinas to keep the hopes of an East Coast Conference postseason tournament berth alive.

STAC (18-24, 10-14 ECC) held that 7-1 lead after seven-and-a-half innings following a three-run frame by the Spartans in the top of the eighth. With Justin Baeyens on the mound for the visitors, Matt Gutleber stepped to the plate and hit a routine ground ball towards second base. The ball had eyes, however, and found its way under the glove of defensive replacement Jonathan Meaney to begin the inning. Gutleber then got aggressive on the base paths, stealing second and third base before Ron Linsalato smacked an RBI double down the right-field line to bring home the run and cut STAC's lead to a 7-2 margin. Brian Watters then came to the plate and took a 1-2 pitch off the back to set up a first-and-second situation for Nick Font, who had the Knights' first run-scoring base hit in the second inning.

On a 1-0 pitch, Font dribbled a weak ground ball towards the right-side of the infield; however STAC was playing a modified defensive shift and the ball was ticketed for the outfield. Meaney raced over from his position behind the second-base bag to scoop the ball up and attempted to flip to first to get Font. The throw had other ideas and soared over the glove of first baseman Brian Donnelly, with an alert Linsalato racing home with the Knights' second run of the inning. The Spartans then made a pitching change, summoning southpaw Christian Allegretti from the left-field bullpen to face rookie outfielder Jon Strauss. Strauss, who earlier had collected his second hit of the contest to mark his twenty-first multi-hit game of the year, stood patiently at the dish as Allegretti attempted a pick-off move to first base. However, the Spartans' pitcher had not come to a complete set before attempting the pick-off move and a balk was called. Watters trotted home and Font moved to second base, giving Queens (24-18-1, 13-11 ECC) its third run of the inning and cutting the deficit to a 7-4 mark.

Strauss then singled down the left-field line, moving Font over to third base to bring the tying run to the plate in Anthony Scotti. The junior worked a walk to load the bases and then immediately took his leave for pinch-runner Brian Wright. That brought Louis Antos to the plate and Allegretti missed on the first two pitches of the at-bat to give the Knights' shortstop a distinct advantage. On the 2-0 offering, Antos jumped all over the pitch and hit a rocket down the left-field line. Font walked home while Strauss rounded third and scored easily, but Wright attempted to score the tying run on the same play. Coming around all the way from first base, the pinch runner was unable to cross the plate safely as James Versage's throw hit the cut-off man Andrew Jemison; Jemison then tossed a bullet throw to the plate where Wright was tagged out by Cris Ruiz for---shockingly---only the first out of the inning. Antos was able to move to third base on the throw, meaning that the tying run was improbably just ninety feet away. 

Jayson Rodopoulos, however, took a 2-2 pitch for a questionable strike-three call for the second out of the inning. Eric Roubal---the ninth batter of the inning---took the first two pitches out of the strike zone from Allegretti before lofting a ball into left-center field that fell in front of Versage to score Antos and tie the game at 7-all. Roubal stole second base and Gutleber drew a walk against Allegretti and Reyan Mustafoski, who finished the at-bat after Allegretti left the game. Linsalato then stepped to the plate and laced a 1-0 pitch towards right-center field. Meaney made a leaping try to snare the third out of the inning, but the ball ended up just over his glove to bring home Roubal with the go-ahead run and put the Knights ahead by an 8-7 margin. 

Kevin Kochen (1-0) had come into the game in the eighth inning to prevent STAC from scoring any further runs but by the time he re-entered the game in the top of the ninth, he was pitching for the win. After Jemison popped out for the first out of the inning, Michael Morgan drew a walk and forced Queens to make a pitching change. The Knights turned to their ace starter---in a closer's role---and Dennis Buckstein sauntered out of the bullpen to attempt to get the final two outs against the third and fourth hitters in the Spartans' line-up. It was not an easy task, made more difficult by Morgan's speed on the bases which drew an errant pick-off throw to put him at second base. Buckstein, however, was unflappable and induced Anthony Maisano to pop out on a 2-0 pitch as STAC was down to its final out. That brought Donnelly to the plate, and Morgan scampered his way to third base on a Buckstein strike with Queens all too happy to give him third base as the focus was squarely on the batter. On Buckstein's final pitch of the day, Donnelly hit a two-hopper to third base that was fielded cleanly by Watters. The throw across the diamond was in time, setting off a celebration as the Knights had pulled off the miraculous comeback.

Queens currently sits in a tie for third place with Mercy College at 13-11 in the conference standings; the Knights will begin their final ECC series against top-seed LIU Post on Friday (May 3) in Brookville at 3 p.m.