QUINCY, Ill. – The Hawks walked off a 14-inning thriller in game one of the series against the Saints of Maryville Friday (Apr. 25) to extend their winning streak to five games. It took over four hours, but one swing of the bat from Isaiah Fudge sent the Hawks home happy with a 9-8 victory. 

Quincy found the run column in the first inning, taking a 2-0 lead courtesy of aggressive base running and a perfectly placed single from Harry Fandre through the left side. Maryville quickly responded in the top of the second, putting up four runs of their own off the Hawks starter Kobe Essien. Three hits, three walks, and an error in the inning doubled the Quincy score after two innings of play.

A solo shot to right field from the Saint's backstop added another run for Maryville in the third. QU answered with a run of their own in the home half after a perfectly executed hit-and-run play from Fandre as he drove in his second run of the game. 

After the Hawks played small ball for the first few innings, they turned to the home run ball in the fourth inning. JD Ortiz and Matt Mateo both hit solo home runs to knot things up at five a piece, and those two runs were the last runs the game would see for a long time.

With what looked to be a slugfest brewing with ten runs through the first four innings, things quickly turned to the pitchers, as both teams were held scoreless for eight straight innings. Essien managed to get through 5.2 innings, and Tom Conzemius was the first man out of the bullpen for the Hawks, who arguably had the best outing of his QU career. Conzemius tossed 6.1 scoreless innings out of the bullpen, as he finished with 84 pitches, gave up three hits, and walked a pair. 

Fast forward all the way to the top of the 13th inning as David Kelliher entered the game in relief of Conzemius. After a quick first out, Kelliher struggled to find the strike zone, hitting the next batter and then walking three straight batters to bring in the first run for Maryville since the third inning. Coach Matt Schissel was forced to go to the bullpen once again with the bases loaded and one out. Logan Mueller was the fourth man to take the ball, looking to get out of the jam. The Saint's big bat in the three spot came through with a scorching single through the left side to bring in two runs, making it 8-5 heading to the home half. 

With the Hawks down three, Ortiz sparked the offense with his second home run of the game after a leadoff strikeout. A few pitches later, Jake Vitale followed suit with a solo shot of his own to bring the Hawks within one. Back-to-back singles from Mateo and Ben Dahlof put the tying and winning runs on base. A double steal moved both runners into scoring position, and David Broughton tied the game with a sacrifice fly that was a few feet away from being a walk-off homer. Quincy loaded the bases with two outs, but a groundout sent the game to the 14th after both teams scored three.

With Mueller still on the mound, the Saints opened the 14th inning with two singles. However, Mueller and the Hawks' defense were able to work out of the jam, allowing no runs to set up another walk-off opportunity for QU.

With Isaiah Fudge up to the plate, he took the first pitch he saw in the home half and deposited a line shot off the top of the right-center wall to win the game for the Hawks after four hours of baseball in game one. It was the fourth home run and 23rd RBI of the season for the QU second baseman.

The Hawks have now won five in a row, holding their spot in the middle of the pack in the GLVC standings with seven games remaining. The series against the Saints will continue tomorrow with doubleheader action. The first pitch of game one is expected to be thrown at 12:00 PM CDT, with game two to follow.