Quincy, Ill - The Quincy University baseball team resumed its series against William Jewell College on Saturday afternoon (Apr. 17) for a doubleheader. The Hawks came out strong this afternoon with 9-5 and 10-1 wins.
Game 1
The Cardinals began the game with the same aggressiveness as they did in the first game of the series and scored the first two runs of the day in the top of the first inning and led 2-0.
The last two outs of the inning came behind two great plays from the Hawks with a diving catch by Gino D'Alessio and a foul ball catch by Jacob Kalusniak falling into the Hawk dugout.
Michael Nielsen came through for the Hawks in the second inning with his second home run in as many games and QU trailed 2-1. D'Alessio connected a double to the left-center gap in the same inning and moved to third after a wild pitch. The Hawks loaded the bases with two walks but were not able to score.
The Hawks attacked once again in the bottom of the third when Nielsen brought in the tying run after hitting a double over the center fielder's head to allow Dayson Croes to score. Lance Logsdon followed up with a single to right field which put runners at the corners with only one out in the inning. D'Alessio then hit a sacrifice fly to right field and brought Nielsen home. QU led 3-2.
Quincy loaded the bases in the bottom of the fifth after a walk to Croes and two infield hits by Nolan Wosman and Nielsen. Logsdon hit a grand-slam over the center field wall to extend their lead to 7-2. The inning wasn't over as D'Alessio continued the rally with his second double of the game and that was followed by a hit by pitch and a walk to load the bases for the second time in the inning. Brock Boynton hit a sacrifice fly to center field to score D'Alessio to make it 8-2. The Cardinal's pitcher committed a balk which moved both Justin Eads and Cole Evans to second and third. Right after, the pitcher threw a wild pitch that allowed Eads to score and Evans to take third base to make it 9-2.
The Cardinals responded with a three-run homer to make it 9-5 in the top of the fifth, but it wasn't enough as the Hawks won the game 9-5.
Game 2
William Jewell scored the first run of the game in the top of the second after the lead-off hitter hit a double. He was later brought home by a couple of ground balls to first baseman Michael Nielsen to make it 1-0 in favor of Jewell.
The Hawks started a rally in the bottom of the third when catcher Luke Napleton walked and then Brock Boynton doubled to put runners at third and second. Jacob Kalusniak singled to move Boynton to third and drove Napleton to the plate for the first Hawks run which tied things at 1-1. The Cardinals' pitcher committed a balk, and Boynton moved home for the second Quincy run which gave the Hawks a one-run lead. With only one out, Lance Logsdon hit an infield single to second base to put runners on the corners. Nielsen hit a sacrifice fly to right field to extend the QU lead to 3-1.
The Hawks did it again in the bottom of the fourth as the lead-off batter D'Alessio reached base on a throwing error by third baseman. Joe Roscetti followed with a double to right-center to put both runners in scoring position. Napleton responded for the Hawks with a two-RBI double to the left-field line and was later sent home with a sacrifice fly by Kalusniak to make it 6-1.
Quincy was not done yet and came back in the bottom of the fifth and scored four more runs behind an RBI single for D'Alessio. A single by Roscetti was preceded by a two-RBI double by Napleton, and an RBI single by Boynton and QU led 10-1 and they went on to win by that score.
Stat Leaders (both games combined)
Michael Nielsen - 3-for-6, double and HR, 3 RBIs
Gino D'Alessio - 3-for-5, 2 doubles, 2 RBIs
Lance Logsdon - 3-for-7, double, HR, 4 RBIs (5.0 IP, 4 hits, 2 runs)
Luke Napleton - 2-for-2, 2 doubles, 4 RBIs
Next Game
The Hawks will be concluding the series against William Jewell on Sunday afternoon (Apr. 18) at 12:00 P.M.
