SAINT LEO, FL. – The Quincy University baseball team got a balanced performance from both their offensive lineup and pitching staff in the series finale at Saint Leo on Saturday (Feb. 15). The Hawks raked seventeen hits on the day and let up just four hits over the course of an 11-3 win. 

How It Happened
The Hawks did not take long to make their presence felt in the series finale of opening weekend. QU had the first two batters retired before getting the scoring party started with two outs. 

Zach Parks got a single to right center which was followed by a double off the bat of Tyler Carpenter. With runners on second and third, Lance Logsdon ripped a double down the right field line to bring both runners home and give Quincy a 2-0 lead. 

Justin Eads kept it rolling with an RBI single to make it a 3-0 Hawks lead. 

The Lions were able to get one run back in the bottom of the second after a lead-off home run. 

Starting pitcher Sam Stephens settled in and got more support from his offense. 

The Hawks scored another run in the top of the fourth with an RBI single by Zach Parks as Lane Baremore came in to score. QU held a 4-1 lead. 

In the fifth inning, Quincy got a lead off single from Logsdon and he was immediately driven in with a double to the right field gap by Justin Eads. Quincy took a 5-1 lead. 

The scoring continued behind sloppy defensive play by St. Leo. Gino D'Alessio was able to reach base on a passed ball after swinging at the third strike. This left men on first and third with no outs. 

A strikeout in the next at-bat left one out, but the Lions muffed a pick-off attempt at first base which allowed Eads to score from third, and Quincy went ahead 6-1. 

On the mound, reliever-turned-starter, Sam Stephens continued to roll as he worked a 1-2-3 bottom of the fifth. In his five innings of work, Stephens' only blemish was the solo home run in the second inning as he allowed just one run off one hit with five strikeouts and three walks. 

In the sixth inning, Dalton Overstreet came out of the pen to relieve Stephens. Overstreet worked a quick inning to bring the Hawks back to the plate. 

In the seventh, Quincy added more insurance runs. A walk to Justin Eads and a single by Gino D'Alessio put the first two batters on base. 

Matt Westphal singled down the left field line to score Eads and make it a 7-1 game. With runners on first and second, St. Leo turned a double play, but committed a fielding error trying to get the lead runner on the back pick. 

This allowed an unearned run to come home for the Hawks to make it 8-1. 

In the next at-bat, another fielding error allowed Nolan Wosman to get to second base. Nolan Snyder drove him in with a single up the middle to give the Hawks a commanding 9-1 lead. 

Saint Leo got a pair of runs back in the eighth inning behind a two-RBI double, but the Hawks got those runs right back in their final at-bat. 

Center fielder, Nolan Snyder, blasted a two-run bomb to right field in the top of the ninth to give the Hawks an 11-3 lead. 

QU went on to win by that final score. Six different Hawks had multi-hit games on the offensive end. Lance Logsdon, Gino D'Alessio, and Lane Baremore each had three hits while Nolan Snyder, Zach Parks, and Justin Eads each had two hits. 

Quincy hit an impressive .471 with two outs on the day while the pitching staff limited St. Leo to a meager .077 (1-13) batting average with runners on base. 

Next Game
The baseball team will head south yet again next weekend as they travel to Clinton, Mississippi to take on Mississippi College on Saturday (Feb. 22) and Sunday (Feb. 23).