St. Louis, Mo. – The Quincy University baseball team used a herculean eight inning scoreless effort from starter Spencer Walker and a team record setting homerun from Luke Napleton enroute to a 4-1 victory over the Tritons of the University of Missouri – St. Louis, good for nine straight wins.

Walker collected nine strikeouts, allowing just three hits and a single free pass in his eight innings of spectacular work. Chasing both the career and single season individual homerun titles, junior Luke Napleton did his part in breaking a different homerun record. The single season team mark was surpassed by the first inning bomb from Napleton. The blast was the 90^th longball of the season for the Hawks.

After jumping out in front early 1-0 in the first on the Napleton homerun, both sides remained off the scoreboard until Quincy broke through again in the top of the fourth inning. A leadoff single from Nolan Wosman followed by a walk from Zach Parks put two men on with none down. Dustin Dupont laid down a sac bunt to the left side, advancing both runners into scoring position, and setting the stage for an Adam Lewis two RBI double. The full count extra base hit from Lewis made it 3-0 after the QU half of the fourth.

The Hawks offense was held in check from there until the final inning of the contest. While the lineup was held at bay, Spencer Walker continued to do Spencer Walker things. After tight roping out of danger in the third, Quincy's ace really started finding his groove, facing four hitters in the fourth, and the minimum in the fifth and sixth.

A two out triple in the UMSL half of the seventh presented a threat heading into the later innings. Fresh off three quick innings, Walker was equal to the task, getting the next batter to fly out and end the threat.

Quincy caught a break in the top of the ninth, finding Gino D'Alessio on second base to open the inning thanks to a Tritons fielding error. A grounder to the right side from Austin Simpson advanced the runner to third with one out. Back again for more, Napleton smacked a double into the right center gap to score D'Alessio and propel the lead further to 4-0 heading to the bottom of the last.

After a couple of walks and a single to score a run, Cruz Meier came on to pitch in the bottom of the ninth. With men at the corners and nobody out, Meier utilized a heads up, lineout, double play along with a strikeout to preserve the 4-1 victory to open the series.

The Hawks will be back in action again tomorrow with a double header in St. Louis to continue the series with GLVC conference foe UMSL. First pitch of game one is slated for noon.

Stats Leaders:
Spencer Walker: 8 IP, Win, 0 ER, 3 Hits, 9 Ks, 1 Walk
Luke Napleton: 2-5, 1 Run, 2 RBIs, HR
Adam Lewis: 1-2, 2 RBIs, Walk
Zach Parks: 1-3, 1 Run, Walk