FLUSHING, N.Y. – Felician University combined for only six base hits in a pair of non-conference baseball losses to host Queens (N.Y.) College on Sunday afternoon at Hennekens Stadium. The Knights scored six runs or more in three different innings to claim a 23-2 Game 1 victory, and scratched across two late unearned scores for a 3-2 Game 2 triumph.

Felician senior Matt Diesel (Massapequa Park, N.Y.) was 0 for 3 in the day's opening game, making three fly-ball outs before being lifted for a defensive replacement in the lopsided affair. It was the first time this season, and in 50 games dating back to last year, that Diesel failed to reach base via hit, walk, or hit batsman. Diesel then picked up the Golden Falcons' only two hits of the nightcap.

After plating a run in the bottom of the first inning, Queens (12-22) took control of Game 1 with a six-run second. Sam Siegel (East Meadow, N.Y.) and Thomas Parish (Cortland Manor, N.Y.) produced RBI singles among the Knights' four hits in the inning.

Sloppy Golden Falcon pitching led to more damage. A two-run single by Daniel Codispoti (Patchogue, N.Y.) and a three-run double from Louis Antos (West Islip, N.Y.) were two of only three hits in Queens' six-run fourth. The hosts plated eight runs on only three hits in the fifth, including a grand slam home run by Matthew Stepnoski (Mattituck, N.Y.) and a Dylan Hughes (Merrick, N.Y.) two-run shot.

Queens junior right-hander Michael Lamneck (Islip, N.Y.) (2-0) was removed after five frames while working on a no-hitter. He had struck out three batters and walked five, and allowed a third-inning run on three consecutive bases on balls and a L.T. Struble (Hammonton, N.J.) sacrifice fly.

Hughes, who had pinch-hit for the designated hitter when he homered in the fifth, entered to pitch in the top of the sixth. Struble greeted him with a triple to end the combined no-hit bid, and scored one out later on a single by Rahul Prince (Pomona, N.Y.).

Hughes finished the game, giving up only that run on four hits with five strikeouts. He was credited with a save, his second of the year. Six Felician pitchers yielded 12 walks and five hit batsman in addition to the 15 Queens hits. Antos drove in five runs, and Stepnoski was 2 for 4 with four runs scored and four RBI.

Game 2, a scheduled seven-inning affair, was tied, 1-1, after five. Diesel drove in Bruce Strickland (Hazlet, N.J.) to put Felician ahead in the first inning, and Queens' Eric Roubal (Patchogue, N.Y.) knocked home a run with a fourth-inning hit. The Knights threatened for more in the fourth, but were foiled by a botched squeeze play and strong relief work by Golden Falcon senior John-Paul Codelia (Brooklyn, N.Y.).

By the sixth, both teams had dipped into their bullpens again. Strickland was hit by a pitch, advanced on a wild pitch and a groundout, and once again came home on a Diesel single. Queens began the home half with a walk and a double, and then the Golden Falcon defense unraveled. A passed ball tied the game, and an error on a ground ball allowed the eventual winning run to score.

Queens sophomore righty James McGee (Bayside, N.Y.) set down Felician in order in the seventh, recording two strikeouts, for his first save.

Parish had a double in a 2 for 3 performance and Roubal also had two of the Knights' seven hits.

Felician (22-22) has six regular-season games remaining, all against Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference opponents. The Golden Falcons travel to the University of the Sciences for a 1 p.m. doubleheader on Wednesday.