KANSAS CITY, Mo. – The Quincy University baseball team swept their final regular season double header of the year over the Hawks Rockhurst University. An offensive explosion of 14 hits with six longballs fueled a 17-3 blowout in game one. A shutdown performance from the pitching staff along with some timely hitting lifted QU to a 7-0 win in the second seven-inning contest.
Game One
Gino D'Alessio led off the game with a triple down the right field line.
Dustin Dupont put the Hawks ahead in the next at-bat with a sacrifice fly to center.
Lance Logsdon smacked a big fly to right center to put QU ahead 2-0 after the first half inning.
Quincy didn't strike again until the third inning. Meanwhile, starter
Griffin Kirn walked three and struck out three in two scoreless first innings of work. RU had a runner in scoring position in both innings, but Kirn used a strikeout in the first and a popout in the second to repel the threat.
A leadoff walk, along with a one-out single put two runners on for a three-run
Nolan Wosman blast to left to make it 5-0 after the top of the third.
Kirn surrendered two singles sandwiched inside three strikeouts to put up another goose egg in the bottom of the third, brining the Hawks to the plate again for the fourth. A hit-by-pitch from
Brock Boynton followed by a Dupont homer pushed the lead further to 7-0.
Three straight batters retired in the bottom of the fourth spelled the end of the day for Kirn and brought Quincy to the plate again for the fifth.
Zach Parks drove a 2-0 pitch out to right to make it 9-0 heading to the bottom of the fifth.
Rockhurst loaded the bases with one out in the fifth.
Joe Byers, the reliever for Kirn, picked up a strikeout and a flyball to get out of the jam.
The Hawks offense put the game way out of reach with eight runs in the top of the sixth inning. Two runners scored on an error by the leftfielder, hit by Wosman. Three more runs on a pinch-hit homerun from
Cole Erickson and the final three delivered by another pinch-hit homer from
Dayne Sebranek. The seniors first career hit put his squad ahead 17-0 heading to the bottom of the sixth.
RU got on the scoreboard in the bottom of the sixth and seventh. A single run in the bottom of the sixth and two more runs in the seventh closed out a dominating 17-3 win in game one.
Stat Leaders:
Lance Logsdon: 3-5, 3 Runs, RBI, HR
Dustin Dupont: 1-1, 2 Runs, 3 RBIs, HR, Walk
Zach Parks: 2-3, Run, 2 RBIs, HR
Dayne Debranek: 1-1, Run, 3 RBIs, HR
Cole Erickson: 1-2, Run, 3 RBIs, HR
Game Two
D'Alessio lead off the second game with a hit as well, this one a single. Dupont took a 0-2 pitch over the center field wall for his second homer of the day to make it 2-0 after the top of the first inning.
Kobe Essien got the start in game two. The righty worked scoreless innings in the first and second, including striking out the side in the second frame.
A leadoff single from D'Alessio in the third, followed by a walk from Dupont set the stage for a Logsdon two RBI double down the right field line to make it 4-0 in the early going.
Another scoreless frame from Essien in the third brought the Hawks to the plate for the top of the fourth. A HBP from Parks along with a single from Boynton and a walk from D'Alessio loaded the bases with one down. Dupont slapped a ground-rule-double to left center to plate two and make it 6-0.
Luke Napleton drove in the final run of the contest on a sac fly in the next at-bat.
With a 7-0 cushion, Essien worked a scoreless final inning in the fourth to end his day.
Roman Harrison,
Carter Endisch and
Tim Reinholz retired the final nine hitter to preserve the 7-0 shutout victory.
The Hawks are back in action again tomorrow, Sunday (May. 6) for their final regular season game of the season. Sitting at 39-9 on the season, a win in tomorrow's noon series finale would give QU it's first 40 win season since 2018.
Stat Leaders:
Dustin Dupont: 2-3, 2 Runs, 4 RBIs, HR, Walk
Gino D'Alessio: 3-3, 3 Runs, Walk
Lance Logsdon: 1-2, 2 RBIs, 2 Walks
Brock Boynton: 2-3, Run
Kobe Essien: 4 IP, 0 Runs, 1 Hit, 7 Ks
