FLUSHING, N.Y. – Looking to conclude the weekend on a high note and a five-game win streak, the Queens College baseball team
(10-4 overall) completed a four-game series sweep over the visiting Bears of Bloomfield College Sunday afternoon at Hennekens Stadium.
In game one the Knights totaled 13 hits led by three-hit performances from sophomore
Marc Cisco (Long Island City, N.Y.) (3-4 AB, 2B, 2R), senior
Anthony Fontana (Wantagh, N.Y.) (3-4 AB, HR, 3RBI, R), while the duo of junior
Francis Segarra (Bronxville, N.Y.) (2-3 AB, 2B, RBI, BB, 2R) and rookie
Jorsixt Jimenez (Queens, N.Y.) (2-4 AB, 2RBI) recorded two-hits, while rookie righty
Christopher Naronis (Floral Park, N.Y) (W 2-1, 6.0 IP, 6H, 2ER, 2BB, 6K) recorded his second win of the season as Queens took game three of the series to the score of 9-4.
In game two, the Knights would rally trailing 2-0 led by a back-to-back three-hit performance from Fontana
(3-3 AB, HR, 3B, 4RBI, BB, R), while senior
Jayson Rodopoulos (Scarsdale, N.Y.) (2-4 AB) recorded fifth multi-hit game and sixth overall, while five other Knights recorded a hit apiece. On the mound, sophomore
Nick Kozerski (Hicksville, N.Y.) (W 2-0, 6.1 IP, 5H, 2ER, 2BB, 6K) earned his second victory, while senior
Dante Interlandi (Massapequa, N.Y.)(S1, 0.2 IP, 2BB) earned his first save of the season as Queens complete the sweep with an 8-4 victory.
With the sweep over the Bears, the Knights improved their record to 16-8 overall against their non-conference foe.
With an overall record of 10-4, head coach
Chris Reardon and the Knights are off to their best start in program history since the 1998 season when they went 12-2 through their first 14 games of the season.
In game one after Naronis worked a clean inning to start the first inning of play, Queens would begin the offense with one out. Cisco doubled to right field before Segarra delivered with a RBI single up the middle as Queens took a 1-0 lead.
As Naronis worked out of a two-out single in the top of the second inning, Fontana and senior
Reed Hoskins(Freeport, N.Y.) (1-3 AB, HR, RBI, R) delivered with back-to-back home runs to left field as the Knights extended their lead to 3-0 after two complete innings of play.
The rookie continued his stellar start of the afternoon striking out the Bears in order before the offense gave their righty a 4-0 lead in the bottom of the third.
Naronis would run into his first trouble of the afternoon as a walk and single to center field put runners on first and second. The Floral Park native would strike out the next batter before a grounder hit back to the righty began a 1-6-3 double play to end the inning and maintain the 4-0 lead.
The Bears would finally get to the rookie in the top of the fifth with two doubles as they cut the home side lead down to 4-2.
But Queens offense responded in the bottom of the fifth with three hits as they extended their lead back to 6-2.
In the top of the sixth, the Bears would threaten once again. After the Knights got the first batter to foul out, they would tack on back-to-back hits before a walk loaded the bases.
Under pressure, Naronis would get the second out as he recorded a career-best sixth strikeout of his career before the middle infield of Segarra and Cisco delivered for the final out of the inning to keep the Knights in front with a 6-2 lead.
Queens would put the game away in the bottom of the sixth with two hits to score three runs before closing out game one to the final score of 9-4.
For the second straight day, the Bears would start the second game of the weekend series with the lead. But the Knights would limit the damage to two runs heading into the bottom of the first inning.
Trailing 2-0, the Bears would get Rodopoulos to ground out to begin the inning before Cisco battled to earn a walk. But the visitors would erase Cisco on a fielder's choice for the second before sophomore
Matt Filip (Maspeth, N.Y.) earned a walk.
Coming off a three-hit performance in game one, Fontana quickly erased the 2-0 deficit with a two-RBI triple to left center field as the Knights tied the game 2-2 after one complete inning of play.
With one out in the top of the second, Bloomfield would tally a double before Kozerski struck out the next batter for the second out. After the Bears stole third, the righty would leave the base runner stranded on third as he got the third out with a fly out to center field.
Queens would leave two runners stranded in the bottom of the second before Kozerski worked a clean third inning with back-to-back strikeouts.
With the game tied 2-2 and two outs in the bottom of the third, the Knights would go back-to-back-to-back with three straight solo shots off the barrels of Fontana, Hoskins
(1-4 AB, HR, RBI, R), and senior
Colin Diez (Levittown, N.Y.) (1-3 AB, HR, RBI, R) as the Knights took a 5-2 lead after three complete innings of play.
The Bears began the fourth with a single off the glove of Kozerski before the sophomore got the first out with his fourth strikeout out of the afternoon.
Bloomfield looked to have cut the deficit down to 5-3 with a single to center field as the visitors waved their runner home from first but the Knights' defense would show their arm strength on an 8-4-2 play to catch the base runner out at home plate before the Hicksville native picked up his fifth strikeout of the afternoon to end the top of the fourth.
Queens would add insurance runs in the bottom of the fourth and sixth as they extended their lead to 8-4 heading into the final inning of play.
Kozerski would record a career-best sixth strikeout in the top of the seventh before a walk would end the sophomore day as Interlandi relived the righty.
The Bears would threaten by earning back-to-back walks with one out to load the bases before the lefty induced a ground out to Cisco for a 4-3 double play to end the game giving Interlandi his first save of the season and Queens a 4-0 sweep over the Bears to conclude the weekend.
UP NEXT: Head coach
Chris Reardon and the Knights continue non-conference play on Tuesday (Mar. 21) afternoon with a trip to Garden City, N.Y. as they match up against the Panthers of Adelphi University. First pitch set for 3:00 p.m.
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