QUINCY, Ill. - The Hawks and the Flyers played games two and three of the series in a doubleheader that saw Quincy take both games. The first, a low-scoring 2-1 affair and the second by a 6-3 final tally to move to 3-0 in the series.
Game One
It was an old fashioned pitchers duel at the ballpark as QU got a quality start out of
Kobe Essien. The right-hander faced 23 Flyers, striking out six, and giving up only a single run. Essien was credited with the win as he collected 16 outs during his five and a third innings of work for the Hawks.
Essien's first inning of work went one, two, three, collecting a strike out looking to start the game, and two flyouts to follow.
The Hawks half of the first inning came with excitement. Hawks right fielder,
Cole Erickson, homered on a no doubt homerun to left field, soaring into the parking lot to give his side the 1-0 edge.
Essien was greeted in his second inning of work with a leadoff double. He collected his first out on a flyout to left before hitting a runner to put two men on. Out's two and three came via strikeout as Essien was able to work out of the jam.
The Hawks second turn at-bat came with their second and final run of the game. A one-out blast over the right field wall from
JD Ortiz gave the Quincy pitching staff all the support it needed, as LU tallied its only score of the contest on a long ball in the fifth.
Logan Mueller came on in relief of Essien in the sixth inning, facing a single hitter, which he retired, before being lifted for closer,
Roman Harrison. Harrison delivered a four-out save, laying down the final hitter of the sixth via strikeout before collecting a pair of flyballs and a groundout to give his side the 2-1 victory in game one.
Game Two
Quincy got on the board first in game two of the twin bill, scoring in the bottom of the first inning after a clean top half on the mound from
Tom Conzemius. A leadoff single from
David Broughton followed up by a single from
Dustin Dupont put men at the corners for a two-out, run-scoring single from
Joe Huffman down the right field line to put the Hawks ahead after one.
Lewis evened the score in the next half inning, using a pair of singles and a fielders choice to put a run on the board and even the tally. LU added another in the top of the third, using a double and an error to take a 2-1 advantage before pushing across its final run in the fourth on a base hit followed by a stolen base and another knock to make it 3-1.
QU answered with a run in the bottom of the fourth, utilizing back-to-back errors and a double from
Connor Simons to halve the deficit at 3-2.
The Hawks hung a crooked number on the board in the bottom of the fifth. The first two runners reached base before advancing on a sacrifice bunt. An intentional walk loaded the bases before an error on the infield scored the tying run.
JD Ortiz lifted a popup into no man's land on the infield in the next at-bat to drive in a pair of runners and put his side ahead 5-3 after five innings.
Kyle Manship came on in the sixth inning and worked a three-up-three-down half to bring Quincy to the plate. The Hawks scored the final run of the ballgame in the bottom of the sixth, using a single, fielders choice and walk to load the bases for a one-out sac fly from
Austin Simpson to add a little insurance and make it 6-3.
Manship worked around a hit-by-pitch in the seventh by collecting two outs on his own, fielding a grounder for the first out and striking out a hitter for the second out before getting a popup to close the door in a 6-3 winner for Quincy and a sweep of the doubleheader.
Next Up
The Hawks concluded the series with Lewis tomorrow for the rubber match at QU Stadium. Quincy looks to complete the sweep of the series at 12:00 PM.
