WEST HAVEN, CONN. Opening the week in non-conference play Wednesday afternoon the Queens College baseball team made the trip to West Haven, Conn. as they matched up against the Chargers of University of New Haven at Frank Vieira Field.
 
The Knights offense tallied 10 hits as they were held by freshman Michael Vilardi (Massapequa, N.Y.) (3-4 AB, SB) first career three-hit performance, while sophomore Joey Patane (Commack, N.Y.) (2-4 AB, 2B, RBI, 2R) notched his ninth multi-hit game of the year as the underclassman duo combined for five hits, and a run driven in.
 
While five Knights in junior third baseman Robert Jacobsen (Temecula, CA) (1-4 AB, 3B, BB, R), junior second baseman Marc Cisco (Long Island City, N.Y.) (1-4 AB, R, HBP), sophomore right fielder Jorsixt Jimenez (Flushing, N.Y.) (1-5 AB, 2B, RBI, R, SB), redshirt junior shortstop Francis Segarra (Bronxville, N.Y.) (1-4 AB, RBI, 2R, BB, SB) and senior center fielder Phillip Krpata (Farmingdale, N.Y.) (1-3 AB, RBI, HBP) combined for five hits, three RBI, and scored five runs to pace the offense.
 
On the mound, four Knights would hurl their arms led by starter junior righty Nick Kozerski (Hicksville, N.Y.) (2.0 IP, 3H, ER), and in relief junior lefty Nate Rodriguez (Hamilton, N.J.) (2.0 IP, 3H, R, 0ER, 4BB, 2K), freshman lefty Vinay Patel (New Hyde Park, N.Y.) (W, 1-0 4.1 IP, 5H, 2R, ER, 2BB, 4K) and junior righty Joshuel Rodriguez (Bay Shore, N.Y.) (0.2 IP) would combine to hold off the Chargers with Patel pitching a career-high 4.1 innings of work to go with four strikes to earn his first career win as Queens earned an 8-4 non-conference victory Wednesday afternoon.
 
With the win, the Knights improved to 17-13 overall and ended a 10-game losing streak against the Chargers as Queens earned their first victory over their regional foe since March 31, 2007.

GAME RECAP (QUEENS 8, NEW HAVEN 4)

After a scoreless first inning for both sides, the Knights would open the scoring in the top of the second inning. Segarra earned a five-pitch walk before Patane recorded the Knights' first hit of the afternoon with a single to left field advancing Segarra to second base.
 
With no out and runners on first and second, junior first baseman Elquin Rodriguez (Washington Heights, N.Y.) would look to advance both Knights into scoring position with a sac bunt but a throwing error from the Chargers would enable the junior to reach safely and advance to second as Queens capitalized on the error allowing Segarra to score from second as the visitors took an early lead of 1-0.
 
With no outs, junior catcher Thomas Napolitano Jr. (Scottsdale, AZ.) earned a six-pitch walk to load the bases before the Chargers got a double play but it would allow Patane to score from third as Queens took a 2-0 lead.
 
Next batter Krpata would triple the advantage with a bunt single RBI as Elquin scored as the Knights took a 3-0 lead.
 
Leading 3-0, the Chargers wasted no time in responding back as they opened the inning with a bunt single. As a balk negated a potential double play Kozerski would get the first out as he induced the next batter to ground out to Segarra while the Chargers put a runner at third base.
 
The Chargers would get on the board as junior righty got the next batter to ground out to Cisco at second base, but the Chargers would score their first run of the game.
 
A single would extend the inning not before the Chargers base runner stole second and advanced to third on a passed ball. With Kozerski in a nine-pitch duel against the fifth batter of the inning, he would get the third out inducing the batter to line out Cisco at second base to end the inning and keep the lead at 3-1.
 
Queens wasted no time extending their advantage as Cisco opened the third with a single to right center before a double down the left field line from Jimenez gave Queens two runners in scoring position. Segarra put the Knights up 4-1 with a RBI single to right field as Cisco scored from third and advanced Jimenez to third base.
 
The Knights would execute a double steal as Segarra stole second, and Jimenez stole home to extend the advantage to 5-0.
 
Still with no outs, a RBI double from Patane would score Segarra as Queens extended their lead to 6-1.
 
As Elquin grounded out to first base for the first out, he would advance Patane to third base before Napolitano Jr. delivered with a RBI sac fly out to right field scoring Patane as Queens took a commanding lead of 7-1.
 
With Kozerski's outing complete for the day, the Knights returned to junior lefty Nate Rodriguez (Hamilton, N.J.) in the bottom of the third. The Chargers opened the home half of the third with back-to-back singles before Rodriguez got the next batter to fly out to Krpata in center field, but the Knights would turn the fly out into a double play as they got caught the second base runner short while trying to advance to third base for the second out.
 
However back to back-to-back walks would load the base as the Chargers threatened to cut into Queens' lead but Rodriquez would get the third out of the inning inducing the sixth batter of the inning to foul out to Napolitano Jr. to end the scoring threat.
 
Jacobsen opened the top of the fourth with a triple to right field as Queens looked for insurance runs. As Cisco got hit by pitch to give the Knights runners on the corners, Jimenez would put the Knights up 8-1 with a fielder's choice RBI out at second.
 
In the home half of the fourth, the Chargers would threaten once again as they looked to take advantage of two fielding errors. A walk, a strikeout, a fielding error, and a walk would load the bases. With the bases loaded and one out, a RBI single to left center field would get the home side one run before Rodriguez left the bases loaded to end the inning with a nine-pitch battle for a strikeout before getting the seventh batter to fly out in right field to keep the visitors' advantage at 8-2.
 
In the bottom of the fifth Queens turned to Patel to keep the Knights ahead. It would be a shaky first inning of relief for the freshman as the Chargers began the inning with a single and walk. But the New Hyde Park native would keep the damage at one run as he retired the next three batters in a row but the lead was cut down to 8-3.
 
Queens would continue to put the base runners on but each time the Chargers would avoid damage.
 
In the bottom of the sixth, Patel would work around an one-out walk to retire the next two batters before the Chargers were able to cut Queens' advantage down to 8-4 using a single and RBI double to left field in the bottom of the seventh. But once again Patel would keep the damage to one run as he got the fifth batter on a swinging strikeout to end the inning.
 
Patel would begin the bottom of the eight with back-to-back flyouts before a two-out single extended the inning. The Chargers looked to keep the inning going as the fourth batter of the inning singled to right field but as Jimenez threw the ball to Jacobsen to keep the first runner in check, the Knights would get the third out of the inning as they caught the fourth batter short at second base to end the inning as the Chargers looked to put two runners on in scoring position.
 
With the Chargers keeping the scoreline at 8-4, Patel began the bottom of the ninth with a seven-pitch strikeout as the rookie notched his fourth strikeout of the day, a new career-high. But it would be the last batter Patel would face as the Knights turned to junior righty Joshuel Rodriguez (Bay Shore, N.Y.) to get the final two outs of the game.
 
Rodriguez would deliver as he got the second batter to ground out to Cisco at second before getting the final batter of the inning to pop up to Segarra at shortstop as Queens earned an 8-4 victory and their 17^th overall of the year.  

Next Pitch

Queens returns to East Coast Conference play as the fourth conference series of the year gets underway in Staten Island on Friday (Apr. 12) afternoon against the Dolphins of College of Staten Island. Game one of the series' first pitch is set for 3:00 p.m.

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