QUINCY, Ill. – Quincy honored 14 seniors before first pitch on Sunday morning, but Southwest Baptist used a four-run seventh inning to pull away for a 7-4 win at QU Stadium. With the loss, the Hawks settled for a split of the four-game series. The Hawks recognized Joe Huffman, Ryan Sell, Payton Mansfield, Byron Blaise, Ben Dahlof, Cole Erickson, Quinn Schultz, Carson Moreno, Ben Draeger, Alex Pickus, Dylan Graw, Brandon Pickus, Michael Infranca, and Roman Harrison prior to the game.

The game started as a pitchers duel between Ben Draeger and the Southwest Baptist staff. Draeger surrendered a solo home run in the second inning, but that was all he gave up through the first four innings. Draeger worked around traffic in the fourth inning after allowing two singles and a hit batter to keep the deficit at 1-0.

Quincy answered in the bottom of the fourth. Payton Mansfield singled and Carson Moreno was hit by a pitch before Quinn Schultz reached on a fielder's choice to put runners at the corners with one out. Byron Blaise then lifted a sacrifice fly to center field, scoring Mansfield to tie the game at 1-1.

Southwest Baptist regained the lead in the fifth inning after a walk, stolen base, and RBI single made it 2-1, but the Hawks answered again in the sixth. Schultz doubled to left field with two outs and David Broughton followed with an RBI single through the left side to tie the game once more at 2-2.

The turning point came in the seventh inning. After a hit batter, a stolen base, and an intentional walk, Southwest Baptist launched a pinch-hit three-run homer to left field to take a 5-2 lead. Later in the inning, a safety squeeze brought home another run to extend the advantage to 6-2. The Bearcats added one more run in the eighth on an error to make it 7-2.

Quincy had plenty of opportunities offensively throughout the afternoon, finishing with nine hits and seven walks, but stranded 12 runners on base. The Hawks left the bases loaded in the seventh inning and had traffic on the bases again in both the eighth and ninth innings but could not come through with the big hit.

Schultz led the Hawks offensively with two doubles, two runs scored, and a walk. Blaise finished 2-for-3 with a double and two RBIs, while Isaiah Fudge had two hits. Mansfield reached base four times with a hit, three walks, and a stolen base. Draeger gave Quincy five solid innings on the mound, allowing two runs on four hits.

The Hawks will be back in action for a four-game series against William Jewell College beginning on April 17th with first pitch of game one scheduled for 6:00 PM.