FLUSHING, N.Y. – After finding themselves trailing 3-0, the Queens College baseball team used an offensive barrage in the bottom of the fourth inning to defeat the visiting Jefferson University Rams Wednesday afternoon at Hennekens Stadium.
With the win, the Knights improved to 19-10 overall, while the Rams moved to 19-17 on the season.
Wednesday's win ended the Knights' six-game losing streak over the Rams and picked up their first win over the visitors since the 2003 season. Queens moved to 9-9 in Flushing against Jefferson.
The offense tallied 10 hits for nine runs led by multi-hit games from freshman
Marc Cisco (Long Island City, N.Y.) (2-5 AB, HR, 4RBIs, R), senior
Louis Antos (West Islip, N.Y) (3-4 AB, HR, 2R) and sophomore
Andrew Smith (Hampton Bays, N.Y.) (2-4 AB, 2B, 2RBI, R) as Cisco tallied his team-lead 17
th multi-hit game, while Antos barreled in his eighth three-hit performance of the season. Smith knocked in his third multi-hit performance of the season.
While the Knights' pitching staff of junior
Dean Fazah (Queens, N.Y.) (2.0 IP, 3H, ER, 2BB, 3K), senior
Dylan Hughes(Merrick, N.Y.) (W, 2-1, 2.0 IP, 2H, ER, 2K), freshman
Joshuel Rodriguez (Bay Shore, N.Y.) (2.0 IP, 2H, ER, K), sophomore
Jordan Sanabria (Woodside, N.Y.) (1.0 IP, 2K), and senior
Johnnie Rodopoulos (Scarsdale, N.Y.) (2.0 IP, 5K) combined for seven hits, three earned runs and 13 strikeouts on the afternoon.
Fazah opened the game getting the first two outs before a walk gave the Rams their first base runner of the game but Fazah would end the inning with his second strikeout.
After the Rams got the first out, Cisco and Antos singled through the right side as the Knights looked to open the scoring with one out. But sophomore
Reed Hoskins (Freeport, N.Y.) (1-4 AB, R) would line into a double play as the visitors evaded damage.
The Rams would strike first as they tallied three hits to take a 2-0 lead in the second inning before a balk plated the third run of the game for the visitors in the top of the fourth.
As Jefferson's starter got his eight straight out to keep the Knights off the base to open the bottom of the fourth, Antos would end that streak with his second hit of the afternoon before Hoskins tallied a single to put two runners on base with one out. Smith battled for nine pitches to keep his at-bat alive before finally lacing the 10
th pitch for a two-RBI double to left-center field to bring the Knights within 3-2. Queens would tie the game 3-3 as freshman
Matt Filip (Maspeth, N.Y.) (1-4 AB, 2B, RBI, R) tallied his ninth double of the season as he scored Smith with a blast down the right-field line.
As the next Knights batter earned a four-pitch walk, the Rams looked for a double play to end the inning, but a throwing error at second base would allow Filip to capitalize as Queens took a 4-3 lead.
The Rams would finally get the second out before the second walk of the inning loaded the bases as the Knights had batted around to bring up the four-time East Coast Conference Rookie of the Week Cisco up to bat for the second time in the inning . Cisco went down 1-2 in the count before blasting his first career-high grand slam and fifth home run of the season to right field to put the Knights up 8-3.
Forced to go to the bullpen, Antos welcomed the Rams reliever in style as he blasted his team-leading seventh home run of the season giving Queens a commanding lead of 9-3 after four complete innings of play.
The Rams would trim the Knights' lead to 9-4 in the top of the sixth before the trio of Rodriquez, Sanabria, and Rodopoulos combined to shut out the visitors with eight strikeouts.
Rodopoulos would end the game with five strikeouts over the final two innings of play as he faced the minimum of six batters.
UP NEXT: Head coach
Chris Reardon and the Knights return to ECC play as they open a three-game series in Bridgeport, Conn on Friday (Apr. 22) afternoon against the Purple Knights of the University of Bridgeport. The first pitch is set for 3:00 p.m.
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