FLUSHING, N.Y. – As Northeast weather continues to shift games around, the Queens College baseball team opened their fourth East Coast Conference series of the year by welcoming the Dolphins of College of Staten Island to Hennekens Stadium for a Saturday afternoon doubleheader.
Game one of the series would be an early back-and-forth affair before the Knights comeback rally fell short to the final score of 9-7. The offense was limited to six hits led by junior first baseman
Elquin Rodriguez (Washington Heights, N.Y.) (2-5 AB, RBI) multi-hit game, while junior third baseman
Robert Jacobsen (Temecula, CA) (1-4 AB, R, BB), junior second baseman
Marc Cisco (Long Island City, N.Y.) (1-3 AB, 2R, BB), sophomore right fielder
Jorsixt Jimenez (Flushing, N.Y.) (1-2 AB, RBI, R, 3BB), and sophomore
Joey Patane (Commack, N.Y.) (1-4 AB, BB) combined for six hits, three RBI, four runs scored.
On the mound, freshman righty
Michael Vilardi (Massapequa, N.Y.) (L, 4-1 4.0 IP, 6H, 7ER, 3BB, 6K) would be tagged with his first loss in ECC play, while sophomore
John Keane (Wading River, N.Y) (1.0 IP, 3H, ER, BB, K) and junior righty
Nick Kozerski (Hicksville, N.Y.) (4.0 IP, 4H, ER, BB, 4K) combined to limit to Dolphins to seven hits, two earned runs but the comeback rally would fall short as the Knights fell to the final score of 9-7.
In the nightcap the offense would tally 13 hits as four Knights combined for multi-hit performances with Cisco
(3-4 AB, 2B, HR, RBI, 2R) and Vilardi
(3-4 AB, 2B, 2RBI, R, SB) combining for six hits, three RBI, and three runs scored, while the duo of senior center fielder
Phillip Krpata (Farmingdale, N.Y.) (2-5 AB, R), and Rodriguez
(2-3 AB, 2RBI, BB, SB) combined for four hit, two RBI and one run scored.
The trio of Jacobsen
(1-4 AB, 2B, RBI, 2R, BB), Patane
(1-2 AB, RBI, 2R, BB) and junior catcher
Thomas Napolitano Jr. (Scottsdale, AZ.) (1-3 AB, 2RBI, BB) combined for three hits, four RBI, and four runs scored.
On the mound junior righty
Caleb Cassie (Vancouver, B.C.) (4.2 IP, 9H, 10R, 2ER, 5BB, 3K), junior lefty
Nate Rodriguez (Hamilton, N.J.) (W, 3-0 1.1 IP, H, BB, 3K) and senior righty
Danny Gargano (Middle Island, N.Y.) (S, 5 1.0 IP, K) would combine to limit the Dolphins to 10 hits, on two earned runs before Rodriguez held the Dolphins off the scoreboard in relief to earn his third win of year before Gargano earned his fifth save of the year as Queens earned the game two victory to the final score of 11-10 and earned the ECC DH split.
With the DH split, the Knights improved to 18-14 overall and 8-6 in ECC play.
Milestone:
With the game two victory, 11
th year head coach
Chris Reardon earned his 200
th career win in charge of the Knights to become the first head coach in the D2 era to record 200 wins and the second overall coach in Queens College Baseball program history.
GAME ONE RECAP (QUEENS 7, COLLEGE OF STATEN ISLAND 9)
It would be a back and forth in the early going as for every two-run home run the Dolphins belted, the Knights would respond in the home half of the inning.
The Dolphins would take an early 2-0 after the completion of the top of the first inning before Queens earned back-to-back walks with one out to open the home side of the scoring.
As Cisco and Jimenez earned walks, a wild pitch would advance both runners into scoring position before redshirt junior shortstop
Francis Segarra (Bronxville, N.Y.) got the Knights within one run on a RBI sac fly out to center field before Jimenez took advantage of a throwing error to score from second.
After a scoreless second inning for both sides, another two-run shot would give the Dolphins a 4-2 lead before the Knights tied the game 4-4 using three singles and a fielding error to their advantage.
However, for the third time on the day, the Dolphins would use the long ball again to take a 6-4 lead, a lead they would not surrender.
In the bottom of the fourth, Queens used a hit by pitch and a throwing error to cut their deficit down to 6-5.
The Dolphins would extend their advantage to 8-5 using three hits in the top of the fifth before adding a run in the top of the eighth to take a 9-5 lead.
In the bottom of the eighth, with two outs, the Knights would load the bases with two walks and a hit by pitch before Jimenez earned a RBI walk to cut their deficit down to 9-6, but the Dolphins would leave the bases loaded as they got the seventh batter of the inning to fly out in center field.
As Kozerski kept the Dolphins off the scoreboard in the top of the ninth, Patane would record a double to right field to begin the rally. Freshman
Adam Gonzalez (Commack, N.Y.) brought in to pinch hit would lace the sixth pitch of his at-bat but a flying catch from the Dolphins shortstop would prevent a run from being scored as the visitors got the first out.
A RBI single through the right side from Rodriquez would get the Knights within two runs, 9-7 as Queens brought the tying run to the plate. Queens would send junior outfielder
Leo Alvarez (Oceanside, N.Y.) in a pinch hit situation to keep the rally going. As Alvarez battled to keep his at-bat alive, the junior would down looking on a close corner pitch but as Rodriguez stole second, an interference call for the third out would derail the comeback rally as Queens fell short to the final score of 9-7.
GAME TWO RECAP (QUEENS 11, COLLEGE OF STATEN ISLAND 10)
In the nightcap, the Dolphins opened the scoring as they began game two earning a walk and single. Cassie would get the third batter of the plate to strike out looking before the second walk of the inning loaded the bases. The Knights would concede one run as Cassie induced a grounder to Cisco for the second out. The next batter would lace a single through the right side for one run, but Jimenez would get the final out with an excellent throw from right field as Queens got the second runner out at home plate.
Queens wasted no time in responding in the home half of the first inning as Krpata singled through the right side to begin the rally. A RBI double to left field from Jacobsen would score Krpata before Queens loaded the bases as Jimenez earned a walk and Cisco singled to center field.
A RBI single up the middle from Patane would tie the game but a fielding error from the Dolphins center fielder would allow the second run to score as Queens took a 3-2 lead.
CSI would get the first out before Vilardi put the Knights up 4-2 with a RBI single to the shortstop but another error would allow Patane to advance to third base. A RBI through the left from Rodriguez would put the Knights up 5-2 before the Knights executed a double steal. Napolitano would put Queens up 6-2 lead with a RBI single through the left side as the Knights successfully batted around.
A fielding error in the top of the second would hurt Queens as the Dolphins were able to cut the home side advantage down to one run, 6-5.
The Knights responded in the home half of the second using three hits and a bases-loaded walk to extend their lead to 8-5.
As Cassie worked out of trouble in the top of the third, Queens used three walks to their advantage as Segarra put the Knights up 9-5 with a RBI sac fly out to center field.
Both sides would be kept off the scoreboard in the fourth inning before two more fielding errors allowed the Dolphins to take a 10-9 lead following the completion of the top of the fourth.
Needing to rally and with two outs, Cisco battled to keep his at-bat alive for six pitches before belting the seventh pitch of his at-bat for his first home run of the year to left field as Queens tied the game at 10-10 after five complete innings of play.
The Dolphins would threaten in the top of the sixth with a single before Rodriquez got the first out. As a hit by pitch gave the Dolphins two runners and only one out, the Hamilton native would dig deep as he struck out the next two batters to keep the game tied.
Segarra would reach second base on a two-base throwing error to begin the bottom of the sixth inning before he stole third base. Next batter Vilardi would record his second straight game with a three-hit performance of his young career as he notched his first career RBI double to right center as Segarra scored from third to put the Knights up 11-10.
Having retaken the lead, Gargano would close out the game in the top of the seventh facing four batters as Queens earned a comeback 11-10 victory and picked up their eighth ECC victory of the year.
Next Pitch
Attention now shifts to Staten Island with a Sunday (Apr. 14) afternoon doubleheader against the Dolphins. First pitch is set for noon.
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