FLUSHING, N.Y. – Returning to Hennekens Stadium to close out the four-game East Coast Conference series, the Queens College baseball team welcomed the Mavericks of Mercy University to Flushing for a Sunday afternoon doubleheader.
Prior to the first pitch, head coach
Chris Reardon and the Knights honored their 10 graduating seniors for their dedication to Queens College and the baseball program. The Knights honored
Matt Filip (Maspeth, N.Y.),
Nick Kozerski (Hicksville, N.Y.),
Robert Jacobsen (Temecula, Calif.),
Nate Rodriguez (Hamilton, N.J.),
Caleb Cassie (Vancouver, British Columbia),
Thomas Napolitano Jr. (Scottsdale, Ariz.),
Leo Alvarez (Oceanside, N.Y.),
John Keane (Wading River, N.Y.),
Nick O'Conner (Wantagh, N.Y.), and
Penn Sealey (Raleigh, N.C.) in their annual Senior Day ceremony.
In game one, the Knights were led by senior catcher Napolitano Jr.
(2-4 AB, 2B, HR, RBI, R), sophomore utility
Michael Vilardi (Massapequa, N.Y.) (1-4 AB, 2B, RBI, R), Filip
(1-3 AB, RBI, 2BB, R), Sealey
(1-3 AB, 2B, 3RBI) and Alvarez
(1-4 AB) combining for six hits and six runs scored. But the Mavericks would take game three of the series with a five-run rally in the top of the ninth to earn a 7-6 victory.
In the final game of the series, the Knights were led by Jacobsen's
(3-4 AB, 2B, HR, 5RBI, 2R, BB) falling short of hitting for the cycle, Filip
(2-4 AB, RBI, 3R, BB) recording a multi-hit game, while Sealey
(1-4 AB, 2B, 2RBI, R), junior shortstop
Yoskar Guzman (Richmond Hill, N.Y.) (1-3 AB, HR, RBI, R, BB), rookie catcher
Jake Levesque (Pinellas Park, Fla.) (1-5 AB, 2B, RBI, R, BB), O'Conner
(1-5 AB, R), and rookie third baseman
Peter Bounougias (Plainview, N.Y.) (1-3 AB, 2B, R, BB) and Vilardi
(2R, 3BB) combined for 10 hits, 10 RBI and 13 runs scored.
On the mound the trio of Sealey
(2.0 IP, 7H, 4R, 3ER, BB, 2K), red-shirt sophomore
Reynaldo Angeles (Corona, N.Y.) (W, 2-0, 3.1 IP, 3H, 5ER, 3BB, 5K) and rookie
Severino Napolitano Jr. (Brooklyn, N.Y.) (S, 1, 1.2 IP, 2H, 2ER, BB, K) combined to hold off another Mavericks rally as they limited the damage to 12 hits, 11 runs, five walks and struck out eight batters as Angeles earned his second victory of the year in relief before rookie Napolitano Jr. closed out the game to earn his career save as Queens earned the ECC series split to the final score of 13-11 Sunday afternoon.
With the victory, Queens earns their 16
th victory of the year and their seventh ECC victory of the year. Queens has one final ECC series remaining on the docket and currently holds the fourth seed to the ECC Baseball Tournament.
GAME THREE RECAP (QUEENS 6, MERCY 7)
Sophomore
Peter Nenadich III (Bayside, N.Y.) made his third conference start of the year and quickly went to work as he retired the Mavericks in order in the top of the first.
On the offensive end the Knights wasted no time in scoring with one out and a runner on first base, Filip and Jacobsen earned back-to-back walks to load the bases for Sealey. Sealey staring at a 1-1 count would clear the bases with a double to right field as Queens took a 3-0 lead.
Nenadich III would retire the first two batters on back-to-back swinging strikeouts before a solo shot got the Mavericks on board. But the sophomore would keep the damage at one run with his third strikeout of the frame to end the top of the second.
Queens would quickly regain their three-run lead as senior catcher Napolitano Jr. laced his third home run in ECC play with a deep shot to dead center field as the Knights went up 4-1 after two complete innings of play.
As Nenadich III kept the Knights' 4-1 lead intact, his offense would give him more breathing room in the home half of the fourth. As Napolitano Jr. laced a double to right field before junior shortstop
Nick Piazza (Queens, N.Y.) earned a walk, the Mavericks would get the senior catcher in a run-down but it would allow Piazza to advance to third base.
With one out and a runner in scoring position, a RBI double to right center from Vilardi put Queens up 5-1 before a RBI single to right field from Filip scored Vilardi as Queens extended their lead to 6-1 after four complete innings of play.
Over the next three innings of play, the Bayside native would go on to retire seven straight batters before a single broke the streak in the top of the seventh. But the righty would induce a 6-4-3 double play to end the frame as he tied a career-best outing of seven complete innings.
The Mavericks' second solo shot of the afternoon would open the top of the eighth before the sophomore recorded his seventh strikeout of the day to notch a new career-best outing on the mound.
The Knights would turn into the bullpen to get the final five outs of the game and earn their second straight victory. However, the Mavericks would put together a rally in the top of the ninth to score five runs before their defense held the Knights offense at bay to take game three of the series to the final score of 7-6.
GAME FOUR RECAP (QUEENS 13, MERCY 11)
With the Mavericks leading the series 2-1, the Knights would fight back in the final game of the series to ensure there would be an even split heading into their final ECC series of the year as they looked to keep their postseason hopes alive.
Queens wasted no time in opening the scoring as with two outs in the top of the first, Filip earned a walk before Jacobsen laced a two-run shot over right field, the team-leading fifth of the year and his first in ECC play to put the Knights up 2-0.
The Mavericks quickly answered with two runs of their own to tie the game at 2-2 after the completion of the first inning.
Back to an even game Guzman laced the first pitch he saw of his bat for his first home run of the year to put the Knights back up 3-2. But as Queens earned back-to-back walks, the Mavericks would retire the next two batters as they looked to keep their deficit at one run. However senior Filip would have other ideas as he put the Knights up 4-2 with a RBI single to score Levesque before rookie
Matthew Jackson (Brooklyn, N.Y.) scored on a wild pitch to take a 5-2 lead. Jacobsen's third RBI of the day would put the Knights up 6-2 as he laced a double to left center to score Filip.
But the Mavericks would answer once again as they scored two runs on five hits to cut the Knights lead down to 6-4 after two complete innings of play.
After the first two innings combined for 10 runs, both sides would be kept off the scoreboard in the third before the Knights scored two runs in the top of the fourth behind a two-RBI single from Jacobsen who recorded his fourth and fifth RBI of the day through the first four innings of play.
With the Knights leading 8-4, Angeles who came in relief in bottom of the third would tally five strikeouts through two innings to keep the Mavericks offense at bay.
In the bottom of the fifth, a single opened the frame but Angeles would induce a 4-6-3 double play for two quick outs before he ended the fifth with a grounder to Bounougias as Queens kept their 8-4 lead intact.
Looking to give their bullpen more breathing room, the Knights added five runs on two hits in the top of the sixth as they sent nine batters to the plate.
With one out, Queens would load the bases behind a Vilardi walk, Filip single, and a Jacobsen walk. As Vilardi scored on a wild pitch to put the Knights up 9-4, Bounougias would earn the third walk of the frame to reload the bases before Sealey put the Knights up 11-4 with a two-RBI double to left center to score Filip and Jacobsen.
Bounougias would score on a wild pitch to extend the Knights' lead to 12-4 before Levesque put the Knights up 13-4 with a sac fly out to center field to score Sealey.
But once again the Mavericks would not go away without a fight as they used three hits to cut Queens' lead down to three, 13-10 after six complete innings of play.
After rookie
Severino Napolitano Jr. (Brooklyn, N.Y.) was able to get the final two outs in the bottom of the sixth, the Brooklyn native entered the final frame of a seven-inning game needing three outs to give Queens a key series split and earn his first career save.
The Mavericks opened the frame with a double to right center before the rookie got the first out with a grounder to Jacobsen. A walk would put runners on the corner as the Mavericks now had the tying run on deck. The righty would get the second out of the inning with a grounder to Jacobsen but the Mavericks would cut the Knights lead down to 13-11.
Down to the final out and tying run up to bat, Napolitano Jr. would dig deep to get the final out as he induced a fly ball out to O'Conner in center field as Queens held on for a 13-11 victory and earned a key 2-2 ECC series split.
NEXT PITCH
The Knights looking to clinch an ECC postseason spot open their final series of the year in Ponoma, N.Y. on Friday, May 2 as they match up against St. Thomas Aquinas College Spartans at Clover Stadium. The first pitch is set for 11:00 a.m.
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