MARION, Ill. - The #4 Hawks kicked off the 2024 GLVC Baseball Tournament with a nailbiting, extra-inning, walk-off victory over the #5 Tritons of Missouri St. Louis thanks to a blast into the right field bullpen off the bat of
Dustin Dupont to deliver Quincy a 5-4 winner in 10 innings to advance to the second round of the GLVC Tournament.
All was quiet through the first two and half innings as the newly named GLVC Pitcher of the Year,
Griffin Kirn worked three scoreless frames with four punchouts before the Hawks got on the board in the bottom of the third.
A lead off single from
Adam Lewis followed up by a base hit up the middle from
Brock Boynton advanced Lewis to third base for a sac fly from Dupont two hitters later to get his side on the board first.
On the heels of a one-two-three inning from Kirn in the fourth, QU added another score on a double to left center from
Jake Vitale, scoring
Cole Erickson who reached on a HBP in the prior at-bat to make it 2-0 Quincy after four.
UMSL added runs in the sixth, seven and eighth innings to regain the advantage heading down the stretch using an RBI single in the sixth, run-scoring error in the seventh, and two RBI base knocks in the eighth to vault ahead 4-2 with six outs left to get.
QU answered in a big way in the bottom of eighth, pushing across a pair of runs to send the game to the last inning all knotted up at 4-4. A walk and single put two men on for a run-scoring base hit from Dupont before a fielders choice and HBP loaded the bases for an RBI walk from
JD Ortiz to even the tally.
As the ninth inning was about to get under way, bad weather forced a delay of play, but the brief interlude didn't ruin the Hawks focus as QU closer,
Roman Harrison got the job done in both the ninth and 10th innings on the hill to set up the pinnacle moment of the contest from Dupont in the next half inning. In the first plate appearance of the bottom of the 10th, Dupont left the yard to give Quincy the 5-4 win and advance his side to the second round.
The Hawks now await the result of the nightcap this evening between #8 Lewis and #1 UINDY for a 7:30 PM showdown tomorrow evening in game number eight of the winners bracket.
