QUINCY, Ill. - The Hawks were powered by their gritty pitching and defense to earn a 7-1 victory in game four over the Colorado School of Mines on Sunday afternoon (Mar. 2), as Quincy earned a series sweep over the Orediggers.

CSOM jumped on the Hawks starter Ben Draeger early with a triple to open the game and a run-scoring single. However, that was the only run the Hawks staff surrendered for the rest of the game. Draeger was able to limit damage despite a lot of traffic on the base paths. He finished the afternoon with six innings, allowing one earned run on five hits to go along with five punchouts. 

It took four innings to get the offense rolling for the Hawks, but they found the scoring column in the fourth inning with a sacrifice fly from Joe Huffman to even up the score at one. In the following frame, Ben Dahlof continued to stay red hot at the plate, sending a deep fly to left field for a two-run homer, the first of his career. Dahlof is now hitting .451 on the season and has a six-game multi-hit streak.

Quincy doubled its run total in the sixth inning, courtesy of a safety squeeze from Huffman for his second RBI of the game and a two-run single through the 3-4 hole from Jake Vitale. The final run-scoring play for the Hawks came after the seventh-inning stretch, and it was another sacrifice fly from Huffman, who finished the game with three runs driven in. 

Once Draeger's day came to a close on the mound, it was Tim Reinholz who came out of the bullpen for his fourth appearance of the season, and it was by far his best. Reinholz threw three scoreless innings, only served up one hit, and struck out a batter. He earned his first save of the season and first of his career to close the door on a four-win weekend for the Hawks. 

QU outscored the Orediggers 45-20 over the course of four games and poured on 45 hits, 12 of them being extra-base hits. Seven of the nine starters for the Hawks found the hit column, and three players had multi-hit games, including JD Ortiz, who went 2-2 after subbing into the game in the sixth inning.

The Hawks will have the week to prepare for their first GLVC matchup of the season as the Peacocks of Upper Iowa travel to Quincy for a four-game series. Game one will be on Friday (Mar. 7), with the first pitch scheduled to be thrown at 2:00 PM.