QUINCY, Ill. – The Hawks baseball team battled the Ohio Dominican Panthers in the first round of the NCAA Midwest Regional on Thursday (May 17). The Hawks defeated the Panthers 8-3 to collect their 40th win of the season.
Play by Play:
Senior shortstop Brynn Martinez got the Hawks on the board just two pitches into the game with a leadoff home run to left field.
Cody Birdsong followed with a double to put a runner back in scoring position for the Hawks.
Troy Wehde advanced Birdsong to third on a groundout and brought up the Hawks cleanup hitter, JC DeMuri.
DeMuri lifted a sac fly to score Birdsong and give the Hawks a 2-0 lead after the top half of the first inning.
Sophomore starter Riley Martin worked around three walks in the bottom of the first to keep the Hawks 2-0 lead over the Panthers.
Martin settled into cruise control as he retired the next 11 Panthers and kept the Hawks ahead 2-0 through five innings of play.
With one out in the top of the sixth inning, Cody Birdsong drew a walk and Troy Wehde singled to put runners on first and second.
JC DeMuri doubled down the right-field line to score Birdsong and the Hawks led 3-0.
The next batter, Michael Nielsen, narrowly missed a home run to right field. Nielsen doubled off the right-field wall to score DeMuri and Wehde and the Hawks led 5-0 after the top of the sixth.
Ohio Dominican took advantage of a pair of errors by the Hawks to score three runs of their own in the bottom of the sixth to cut the Hawks lead to 5-3.
The Hawks offense answered right back in the top of the seventh.
Junior third baseman TJ Tamaccio singled with one out to bring Brynn Martinez to the plate. Martinez doubled to right field. Tamaccio was thrown out at the plate trying to score from first.
Cody Birdsong delivered with his team-leading 13thhome run of the year to extend the Hawks lead to 7-3.
Riley Martin worked a scoreless seventh as this would be his final inning of work. Martin went seven strong innings, allowing just two runs on two hits while striking out five.
The sophomore southpaw worked around six walks that he issued to the Panthers.
Karl Hirsch would throw the final two innings as he relieved Martin in the bottom of the eighth.
Hirsch worked a scoreless eighth and the brought the Hawks to the plate in the ninth.
Jeff Hightower launched a home run to left field to give the Hawks an added insurance run, headed into the bottom of the ninth.
Hirsch came back out for his second inning of work and worked a scoreless ninth to give the Hawks an 8-3 win.
Stat Leaders for QU:
Brynn Martinez: 2-5, 1 HR, 1 2B, 2 Runs, 1 RBI
Cody Birdsong: 3-4, 1 HR, 3 Runs, 2 RBI, 1 BB
Chandler Purcell: 2-4
JC DeMuri: 1-3, 1 2B, 2 RBI
Michael Nielsen: 1-2, 1 2B, 2 RBI
Next up for the Hawks:
The Hawks will play the winner of Illinois Springfield and Hillsdale tomorrow (May 17).
QU's Record:
QU is now 40-16 on the season.
Notes:
This is the fifth time in program history that a team has won 40 or more games in a season.
The Hawks won 43 games in 1999, 42 games in 2000, 40 games in 2006, and 40 games in 2015.
