FLUSHING, N.Y. – Returning to East Coast Conference play Friday afternoon, the Queens College baseball team offense delivered with early runs to defeat the visiting Spartans of St. Thomas Aquinas College 9-2 at Hennekens Stadium.
With the win, the Knights improved to 17-9 overall, 10-0 in ECC play to win their ninth straight game, while the Spartans moved to 13-17 overall, 6-4 in conference play.
The Knights ended a four-game losing streak to the Spartans while winning their straight third game in Flushing against the ECC foe.
The Knights' offense clicked early and never let up as they notched 12 hits for nine runs as four Knights tallied multi-hit games led by freshman
Marc Cisco (Long Island City, N.Y.) (3-5 AB, 2B, 3RBIs, 2R), junior
Jayson Rodopoulos (Scarsdale, N.Y.) (2-4 AB, 2R, BB), senior
Louis Antos (West Islip, N.Y) (2-5 AB, RBI, R), and sophomore
Andrew Smith (Hampton Bays, N.Y.) (2-3 AB, 2R, BB). While five Knights drove in seven runs led by Cisco three-RBIs on the afternoon.
On the mound, graduate-student
Julien Arcos (Glenwood, N.Y.) (W, 4-1, 9.0 IP, 7H, ER, 2BB, 12K) was a one-man army using 106 pitches as he pitched his second complete game in conference play with a career-high 12 strikeouts to pick up his third ECC win of the season.
For the four straight game, Arcos continues to go one step above his previous performances as the Glenwood native has pitched 33 innings allowing five earned runs with a 1.36 ERA, .94 WHIP, and 38 strikeouts. In his last four starts, Arcos has struck out seven or more batters to run his tally to 56 punch outs on the season in eight appearances.
As Arcos left Spartans runners on second and first with his second strikeout to end the opening frame of the game, the Knights' offense went to work right away. As Rodopoulos earned a walk to start the home half of the first, the visitors would get the first out before Antos continued his hitting streak with a single through the left side as Rodopoulos advanced to second.
But the Spartans would get the second out as sophomore
Reed Hoskins (Freeport, N.Y.) (1-5 AB, RBI) grounded back to the pitcher but he would advance both Knights runners into scoring position.
With two outs and runners in scoring position, sophomore
Colin Diez (Levittown, N.Y.) (1-4 AB, RBI, BB) delivered with a RBI single to score Rodopoulos from third to put the Knights up 1-0.
The Knights would take a 2-0 lead heading into the second inning as freshman
Matt Filip (Maspeth, N.Y.) (1-3 AB, RBI) laced the second pitch for a RBI single through the right side to score Antos from third.
Arcos would get two straight out before the Spartans put a runner on a first with a single to center field before he ended the inning with his fourth punch out to keep the 2-0 lead intact.
The Knights would extend the lead to 3-0 in the bottom of the second as Smith reached first on a fielding error by the third basemen. After the Spartans got the first out, Rodopoulos advanced Smith to second with a single through the left side. Cisco put the Knights up 3-0 as he delivered with a RBI single to center field to score scored Smith from second.
Up 3-0, Arcos began the third with his fifth strikeout of the afternoon before getting the second with a grounder to Cisco at second. But once again the Spartans would threaten on a fielding error and a single but an unfazed Arcos would complete the job himself as he got the last out with his sixth strikeout.
The Spartans would get their first clean inning of the afternoon in the bottom of the third before Acros answered back with a cleaning inning of his own in the fourth frame.
Smith opened the home half of the fourth with a single up the middle before the Spartans got the next two outs. But Cisco continued his hot day as he put the Knights up 4-0 with a RBI double down the right-field line to score Smith. Antos put the Knights in a commanding 5-0 lead with a RBI single up the middle.
As the Spartans continued to put runners on base, Arcos continued to keep the Knights ahead as he worked out of another jam.
After the Knights' starter opened the sixth with a fly-out to right field, the Spartans tallied another single but the Knights would face the minimum as they ended the inning with a 6-4 double play to freshman
Juan De La Rosa (Dominican Republic).
As the Knights left two runners on base in the sixth inning, the visitors would avoid the shutout as they took advantage of two fielding errors while notching three hits to cut the home side advantage down to three runs, 5-2.
However, the Glenwood native kept his composure as he struck out the last two batters to bring his total to 10 on the day.
As Arcos's pitch count neared the century mark, he would use only seven pitches to end the eighth including back-to-back strikeouts to ring in a dozen strikeouts on the day.
With the Knights leading 5-2, the offense would put the game away with a big four-run eighth inning as they used two hits and took advantage of a throwing error to extend their advantage to 9-2.
As the Knights opened the home half of the eighth with two straight walks, the Spartans got the first out before Rodopoulos loaded the bases with a single through the left side. With the bases loaded for Cisco, the Knights would score the sixth run as Rosa reached home plate in time.
With the bases still loaded and the hot bat of Antos up, the Spartans would get the second out at home plate on a fielder's choice but as the visitors looked for the double play, a throwing error would allow Queens to capitalize as they scored two runs for an 8-2 lead while Antos advanced all the way to third.
Hoskins would close out the scoring with a RBI single up the middle to put the Knights up 9-2.
With the Knights up 9-2, Arcos returned to the mound with his pitch count at 101, but the righty wasted no time in closing out the game as he used only five pitches to earn his second complete-game victory of the season in conference play.
UP NEXT: Head coach
Chris Reardon and the Knights conclude the three-game series against the Spartans with a Saturday (Apr. 16) afternoon doubleheader in Rockland County, N.Y. at Clover Stadium. The first pitch is set for 3:00 p.m.
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