QUINCY, Ill. – After spending much of the day preparing QU Stadium following excessive rain, the Quincy University baseball team finally took the field under the lights and came away with a 15-5 win over McKendree in game one of the series on Thursday night. Originally scheduled for a 2:00 PM first pitch, the game was pushed back to 6:00 PM and ultimately began at 6:15 PM. The Hawks rewarded the long day with another fantastic offensive performance to secure the win.

McKendree struck first in the top of the opening inning with an RBI double, but Quincy immediately answered in a massive bottom half. Ben Dahlof tied the game with his second home run of the season before Payton Mansfield doubled home a run. Harry Fandre followed with an RBI double, Jackson Miller delivered his first career RBI with a single, and David Broughton added an RBI double. Later in the inning, Jace Figuereo cleared the bases with a two-run triple as Quincy exploded for seven runs in the opening frame.

McKendree got three runs back in the second inning on a home run, trimming the lead to 7-4, but Hawks starter Roman Harrison settled in from there. The Hawks added two more runs in the third inning when Patrick Mendiola drove in a run with a sacrifice fly before Dahlof added another RBI with the second sacrifice fly of the inning.

Quincy broke the game open in the fourth inning with five more runs. Fandre singled home a run before Mendiola added an RBI single. Figuereo continued his big night with an RBI double, and Dahlof capped the inning with a two-run double as the Hawks extended the lead to 14-4.

McKendree got one run back in the seventh inning after an error and a walk helped create traffic on the bases, but Jared Rodriguez entered and immediately induced a one-pitch double play to end the threat and keep the Hawks comfortably in front at 14-5.

Quincy added its final run in the bottom of the eighth inning. Mendiola singled, and Broughton walked before Isaiah Fudge was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Joe Huffman was then hit by a pitch to force in a run and cap the scoring at 15-5, ten-running the Bearcats in the eighth inning.

The Hawks finished with 16 hits, tying a season high with seven doubles. Quincy also stole six bases as a team for the seventh time this season and improved to 7-0 in games with at least six stolen bases. Seven different Hawks recorded multi-hit games.

Figuereo paced the Hawks with his sixth three-hit game of the season, going 3-for-6 with a triple, two doubles, and three RBIs to lift his batting average to .424. The performance also marked the first time in his career that he recorded three extra-base hits in a game. Dahlof finished with his third game this season with multiple extra-base hits, going 2-for-3 with a home run, double, and four RBIs. Broughton recorded his fourth three-hit game of the season, while Mansfield, Fandre, Mendiola, and Miller also had multi-hit performances. Miller had a breakout game in just his second career start as the designated hitter, recording his first career extra-base hit, stolen base, RBI, and multi-hit game. Fudge was held hitless for just the fifth time this season but still managed to reach base twice.

On the mound, Roman Harrison worked around traffic throughout the night and tied his season high with nine strikeouts over 6.1 innings. Rodriguez was outstanding out of the bullpen, getting a one-pitch double play to escape a jam in the seventh before tossing a clean eighth inning to close out the win.

The Hawks will be back in action for games two and three tomorrow, with first pitch scheduled for 1:00 PM from QU Stadium.