POMONA, N.Y. – Playing at Clover Stadium on a windy and rainy Saturday evening, the Queens College baseball team dug deep to overcome consistent rain, field conditions, and a St. Thomas Aquinas College Spartans game two rally to earn an East Coast Conference doubleheader split for their 11
th conference win of the season.
The Knights would see their nine-game win streak come to an end in the game one 17-9 loss before overcoming tough weather conditions to earn their fourth ECC series victory with a 10-7 game two victory.
With the weekend split, the Knights improved to 18-10 overall, 11-1 in ECC, while the Spartans moved to 14-18 overall, 7-5 in conference play.
For the first time since the 2004 season, Queens picked up their first ECC series victory over STAC when the Knights won 2-1. The game two victory was the Knights' first road win against the Spartans since the 2018 season when they defeated STAC 10-6.
The Knights' offense tallied a combined 25 hits in two games Saturday evening but five fielding errors in the 17-9 game one loss would prove to be too much to overcome before senior
Louis Antos (West Islip, N.Y) (2-5 AB, 2 2B, 3RBI, R), freshman
Marc Cisco (Long Island City, N.Y.) (3-5 AB, 2B, 2RBIs, 2R), sophomore
Colin Diez (Levittown, N.Y.) (3-5 AB, 3B, RBI) and junior
Jayson Rodopoulos (Scarsdale, N.Y.) (3-5 AB, 3R) combined for 11 hits, six RBIs and six runs scored for a 10-7 game two victory.
In game one, Queens jumped headed 3-0 before three fielding errors in the bottom of the second helped the Spartans take a 9-3 lead. But the Knights showed no quit as they rallied back in the top of the fifth for a six-run inning on four hits to tie the game 9-9. But a throwing error in the bottom half of the fifth would prove to be the difference maker as the Spartans reclaimed the lead before scoring four runs in the sixth and three runs in the eighth to end the Knights' nine-game winning streak and give Queens their first loss in conference play.
For the third time in the series, Queens opened the scoring as they took a 1-0 lead in the first inning of play in the nightcap. Rodopoulos began the first with a single up the middle before the Spartans got Cisco to fly out into right field. The Spartans would be unable to get the second out as Rodopoulos reached second base but a throwing error by the Spartans shortstop would allow Rodopoulos to advance to third.
Queens would open the scoring with a sac fly from sophomore
Reed Hoskins (Freeport, N.Y.) (1-4 AB, RBI) to score Rodopoulos to give their starter
Liam Pulsipher (East Moriches, N.Y.) the early advantage.
However, the Spartans would respond quickly as they tallied two hits to tie the game 1-1 on one out before Pulsipher flashed his leather for the second out before getting the third out with a strikeout.
With the game tied 1-1, sophomore
Andrew Smith (Hampton Bays, N.Y.) (0-2 AB, 2BB, R) drew a walk to open the second inning. The Spartans would get the first out before sophomore
Nick Barreiros (Seaford, N.Y.) (1-3 AB, 2R) singled to left field to put runners on first and second. Rodopoulos would reach on a fielder's choice as the Spartans got the second out before the junior stole second base. Cisco put the Knights up 3-1 with a two-RBI double to left-center as Queens reclaimed the lead for good.
Pulsipher worked a clean second inning as he struck out the side in order before the Knights extended their lead to 4-1 on freshman
Juan De La Rosa (Dominican Republic) (2-4 AB, 2B, RBI) RBI double down the left-field line.
The East Moriches native would begin the third inning with his fifth straight strikeout before he worked his second straight clean inning with a grounder to Rosa and fly out to Smith in right field.
As Pulsipher continued to keep the Spartans off the scoreboard, the Knights' continued their offensive run with their fifth run of the game in the top of the fourth to take a 5-1 lead.
STAC would cut Queens' advantage down to 5-2 with two singles in the bottom of the fourth before Pulsipher ended the inning with his sixth strikeout of the day.
As the rain continued to get heavier in Pomona, the Knights extended their lead back to four with a run in the top of the fifth. But once again the Spartans would cut into the lead before Pulsipher ended the fifth with his seventh strikeout of the evening and left the bases loaded to keep the Knights ahead to the score of 6-3.
Queens would leave runners on the corners in the sixth inning, but Pulsipher would work his third 1-2-3 inning of the evening including back-to-back strikeouts to take his tally to nine on the day.
As the rain got heavier, Queens would tally five hits to extend their advantage to 10-3 in the top of the seventh.
Rosa began the seventh with a single through the right side before the Spartans erased Rosa at second on a timely throw as Barreiros looked to deliver with a sac bunt. With one out, Rodopoulos would tally his third hit in game two with a single through the right side before Cisco juiced the bases with a single to center field with the hot bat of Antos up next.
With the bases loaded and no place to put Antos, the Spartans were forced to pitch to the three-time ECC Player of the Week and the Knights' third basemen would deliver. Looking at an 0-1 count, the West Islip native laced the second pitch for a bases-clearing three-RBI double to right-center field to put the Knights up 9-3. The Spartans would get the second out before Diez put the Knights up 10-3 on a RBI triple to right-center to close out the scoring for Queens.
As the rain continued to come down heavier and field conditions getting unkind, Pulsipher
(W, 3-4 6.1 IP, 9H, 6ER, 3BB, 9K) returned to the mound to close out the game as the Knights led 10-3 to begin the bottom of the seventh.
Down to their last three outs of the game, the Spartans looked to create a storm of their own as they tallied back-to-back hits before a hit by pitch would load the bases for the home side. STAC would tally their third hit of the inning with a two-RBI double to cut the Knights' advantage down to 10-5.
With runners on second and third, Pulsipher would finally get the first out as he induced a grounder to Cisco but the Spartans would cut the Knights' advantage down to 10-6. With the rain showing no signs of stopping, Pulsipher pitching with a wet ball would allow his fourth hit of the inning as the Spartans scored their fourth run of the seventh to get within three, 10-7 before the Knights coaching staff were forced to make a pitching change with a runner on first base.
Pitching in unpleasant weather conditions, the Knights turned to senior
Dylan Hughes (Merrick, N.Y.) (S1, 0.2 IP, BB, K) for the save. A wild pitch would advance the runner to second before Hughes walked the first batter as he was unable to find his command in wet conditions. But Queens would finally get the second out at second base on a dropped pop-up in the right field before Hughes struck out the last batter to pick up his first save of the season and give the Knights their 11
th conference win of the season.
UP NEXT: Head coach
Chris Reardon and the Knights return to non-conference play Tuesday (Apr. 19) afternoon as they welcome Jefferson University Rams to Flushing. The first pitch is set for 3:00 p.m.
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