UNIONDALE, N.Y. – Playing in the East Coast Conference Championship game for the first time in 24 years, the #2 seed Queens College baseball team did everything they could do but the regular season champions and #1 seed Molloy College Lions who advanced out of the loser's bracket forced a winner take all game 7 Saturday afternoon.
For every move the Knights made, the Lions would respond identically, but the final move would be made by the #1 seed as a two-run inning in the bottom of the eighth would prove to be the decider as the Lions defeated the Knights 6-5 to force a game 7 of the ECC Baseball Tournament.
The Knights' tallied nine hits led by multi-hit performances from freshman
Matt Filip (Maspeth, N.Y.) (2-4 AB, 2B, RBI) and sophomore
Andrew Smith (Hampton Bays, N.Y.) (2-4 AB, RBI, R) as the duo connected for two RBIs on the day.
Offensively the Knights got off on the perfect note as freshman
Marc Cisco (Long Island City, N.Y.) (1-3 AB, 2R, BB) and senior
Louis Antos (West Islip, N.Y) (1-3 AB, HR, RBI, 2R, BB) earned back-to-back walks with one out. But the Lions would get Filip swinging for the second out. But as the Lions looked to have avoided any damage, Smith laced the third pitch of his at-bat for a RBI single up the middle to put the Knights up 1-0.
The Knights would extend their lead to 3-0 as freshman
Juan De La Rosa (Santo Domingo, D.R.) (1-4 AB, 3B, 2RBI) cleared the bases with a RBI triple to right center field.
Having been given a 3-0 lead before evening throwing the first pitch, Knights starter
Liam Pulsipher (East Moriches, N.Y.) (2.1 IP, 3H, 3ER, 2BB, 2K) struggled for location as he walked the first batter. Pulsipher would get the first out with a looking strikeout before hitting the next batter to put runners on second and first. But once again Pulsipher would once back as he got the second out with a fly out to center field.
But a 3-0 lead would bring the game back to square one as the Lions tied the game with a three-run blast to left field as the first inning of play resulted in six runs.
After both starters settled down in the second inning, Antos's 10
th home run of the season to left field gave the Knights a 4-3 lead to begin the top of the third. After Filip and Smith tallied back-to-back singles, the Lions would avoid further damage to keep the Knights at 4-3.
Molloy answered with a run of their own in the bottom of the fourth on two hits to tie the game 4-4.
Cisco began the top of the fifth with a single to left field before advancing to second on a wild pitch. After the Lions got the first out, Filip would reclaim the lead for the Knights with a RBI single to right center field for a 5-4 advantage.
Reliever
Jordan Sanabria (Woodside, N.Y.) (L, 2-2, 5.0 IP, 5H, 3ER, BB, 3K) would retire 11 batters in a row as he kept the Lions' bat quiet.
But as the Woodside native and his defense did their part to keep the Knights ahead, the Lions' defense matched the effort as they prevented the lead from growing any further.
With Queens up 5-4 and Molloy down to their last six outs, the Lions would ensure there would be a winners take all game following the conclusion of this game. Molloy would tally three hits to take a 6-5 lead in the bottom of the eighth as they took their only lead of the game in the final stage of the game.
With the Knights now trailing for the first time on the afternoon as they were down to their final three outs were unable to counter back as they fell 6-5 setting up a Winners Take ALL Game 7!
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