FLUSHING, N.Y. – Looking to shake off Friday's nightmare game, the Queens College baseball team offense showed the bats were alive and well as the Knights quickly shook off game one madness in convincing fashion to sweep the Purple Knights of the University of Bridgeport in East Coast Conference action Saturday afternoon at Hennkens Stadium.
It was an offensive barrage as the Knights tallied 33 hits for 28 runs as Queens took game one 15-2 before completing the sweep with a 13-1 game two victory.
With Saturday's sweep, the Knights improved to 21-11 overall, 13-2 in ECC play as they won their fifth straight conference series of the season, while the Purple Knights moved to 16-23 overall, 6-9 in conference play.
Saturday's win improved the Knights' record to 21 wins on the season as Queens earned their third 20
th win season under head coach
Chris Reardon and their 13
th win in ECC play. For the third season in a row, the Knights have tallied 13 conference wins as they look to clinch an ECC regular-season title with six conference games remaining on the docket.
Having to shake off a hitless performance in just under 24 hours, the Knights went to work quickly and never looked back led by multi-hit performances from sophomore
Andrew Smith (Hampton Bays, N.Y.) (6-8 AB, 2 2B, 5RBI, 3R), freshman
Matt Filip (Maspeth, N.Y.) (4-6 AB, 2B, HR, 9RBI, 2R), senior
Louis Antos (West Islip, N.Y) (4-9 AB, 2B, 3B, 4RBI, 4R, BB), sophomore
Colin Diez (Levittown, N.Y.) (5-9 AB, 3RBI, 2R) and freshman
Juan De La Rosa (Dominican Republic) (3-8 AB, HR, 2RBI, 3R).
While the Knights pitching staff of junior
Liam Pulsipher (East Moriches, N.Y.) (W, 4-4, 5.0 IP, 5H, ER, 3BB, 4K) and senior
Dylan Hughes (Merrick, N.Y.) (S2, 4.0 IP, H, K) combined for six hits and five strikeouts in the game one victory.
While game two was a one-man match show as senior
Rob Backus (Merrick, N.Y.) (W, 3-1, 7.0 IP, 6H, 10K) limited the Purple Knights to six hits but tied a career-high 10 strikeouts to earn his third win of the season.
Queens came out of the gates firing as they gave Pulsipher a 2-0 lead after the first inning of play and they would never look back. Bridgeport would threaten in the top half of the second with bases loaded, but Pulsipher would end the inning with a strikeout.
Queens exploded for five runs in the bottom frame as they extended their advantage to 7-0 after two complete innings of play.
The Purple Knights would continue to test the East Moriches native as they tallied back-to-back hits on two hits but the lefty would leave both runners stranded as he got out of the inning with a grounder to Rosa.
For the fifth time in conference play, the Knights' offense would put double-digit runs as they extended their advantage to 10-0 after four innings of play.
After working out two jams, the Purple Knights would finally get on the scoreboard with three singles against Pulsipher, but he would limit the damage to two runs as the visitors cut the Knights' lead down to 10-2.
After opening the season 0-4, Pulsipher has bounced back with four straight wins to even his record to 4-4 with all four wins coming in conference play.
Leading 10-2, the Knights would put the game away with two runs in the fifth, and three runs capped off Filip's three-run blast in the eighth that would land onto the QC Softball field as Queens finished the scoring with 15 runs on 15 hits.
In relief, Hughes would effectively shut out any comeback attempted as he limited the visitors to one hit to pick up his second save of the season.
Game two was no different as the offensive barrage continued to pour with the Knights tallying 18 hits for 13 runs.
The offense showed no signs of slowing down with four hits to take another 3-0 lead on four hits in the bottom half of the first inning.
As Backus continued to put up zeros, Queens continued their scoring ways as they effectively put the game away in the bottom of the fourth with eight hits to take an 11-0 lead before knocking in two runs in the fifth to lead 13-0.
In the bottom of the fourth, the Knights would send 14 batters to bat that saw the Queens knock in six singles, a double by Filip, a home run by Rosa, and earn three walks.
On the mound, Backus worked three clean innings on the day as he extended his shutout streak to 12 straight innings against the Purple Knights. A run scored in the seventh inning of the game would end the streak but it would be the only run scored on the Merrick native since 2021 against Bridgeport.
But in two straight starts against Bridgeport, Backus has struck out 20 Purple Knights batters while limiting them to seven hits.
Backus would finish the game on the mound using only 82 pitches with 10 strikeouts as Queens earned a 13-1 game two victory to complete the sweep and win their fifth straight ECC series of the year.
UP NEXT: Head coach
Chris Reardon and the Knights return to non-conference play on Tuesday (Apr. 26) afternoon as they host Adelphi University Panthers in Flushing. The first pitch is set for 3:00 p.m.
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