UNIONDALE, N.Y.- After the Thursday (Apr. 1) East Coast Conference (ECC) series opener was moved to Monday (Apr. 5) due to unplayable field conditions, the Queens College Knights opened their three-game series against the Molloy College Lions in Uniondale with a Saturday afternoon doubleheader at Mitchel Field.
The Knights dropped both games of the doubleheader as the Lions won game one 15-4 and followed that up with a 9-1 victory in game two.
With the losses, Queens moved to 3-4 overall, 2-3 in ECC, while the Lions improved to 8-5 overall, 5-0 in ECC.
Game One: Queens 4, Molloy 15
Queens were led by the freshmen duo of
Brad Sakellarides (East Moriches, N.Y.) (2-4 AB, HR, 2RBI, R) and
Teovaldo Estevez (Bronx, N.Y.) (2-3 AB) with the former tallying his first career home run on the season. While five other Knights recorded a hit a piece.
After three innings of play, the Knights found themselves trailing 9-0 and could only muster up one hit. In the top half of the fourth, after junior
Jayson Rodopolous (Scarsdale, N.Y.) worked a walk, Sakellarides blasted a two RBI home run to left field to open the scoring for the Knights. But the Lions would answer back with four runs of their own in the bottom half as the knights pitching staff was unable to find their spot.
After six innings of play trailing 13-2 and still looking to read the ECC preseason pitcher of the year and Lions starter Timothy Panetta, the Knights tallied five hits in the seventh frame but were only able to score two runs as the deficit (13-4) was brought down to single digits. But the early damage by the Lions was too much for the Knights as they were defeated 15-4 in game one.
Game Two: Queens 1, Molloy 9
The Knights were limited to three hits in game two with Estevez (2-3 AB, 2B, HR, RBI, R) recording his first career home run, while freshman
Andrew Smith (Hampton Bays, N.Y.) after having his five-game hit streak broken in game one tallied the third hit of the game for the Knights.
The nightcap did not bring any favorable results for Queens narrowly avoided their first shutout of the season in the 9-1 loss.
After a first 1-2-3 inning by
Rob Backus (Merrick, N.Y.), the Lions were headed for their second straight three up, three down before the middle batters recorded three runs on the Knights starter for a 3-0 lead. Queens were hitless until the fourth inning as Smith opened the hit column with a single. But the Knights were unable to move him further. Molloy would put the game away in the sixth inning as they extended their advantage to 9-0.
Facing a shutout, Estevez homered to left field for his second straight multi-hit game but the Knights were swept on the day as they dropped game two 9-1.
UP NEXT: Queens opens a seven-game home stand starting Monday (Apr. 5) as they look to avoid the series sweep against Molloy in Flushing. First pitch slated for 3 p.m.
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