QU baseball team on verge of history with one victory needed to reach 40-victory plateau

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Dayne Sebranek’s name is officially part of history.

One big swing took care of that.

A senior infielder on the Quincy University baseball team, Sebranek collected his first career hit Saturday during a 17-3 victory over Rockhurst in the first game of a Great Lakes Valley Conference doubleheader at Loyola Park.

His three-run pinch-hit home run in the sixth inning capped QU’s scoring and added to what is a legendary season total of 114 home runs. That is a single-season school record and currently leads all NCAA Division II programs.

The combination of power and stellar pitching — Quincy tossed a two-hit shutout in a 7-0 victory in the nightcap — is why QU (39-9, 26-5 GLVC) finds itself on the verge of more history heading into the final day of the regular season.

Saturday’s sweep secured the GLVC regular-season championship and the No. 1 seed for the upcoming GLVC Tournament, but a victory Sunday would mark the second 40-win regular season in program history.

Five other QU teams have won at least 40 games in a season, but the most regular-season victories belongs to the 1999 team, which went 40-8 and finished 43-13 overall.

Quincy put itself in position to reach the 40-win mark by never giving Rockhurst a chance. In the opening game Saturday, QU scored twice in the first inning and never let up, scoring 17 runs on 14 hits with six home runs.

Lance Logsdon went 3 for 5 with a home run and three runs scored, while Zach Parks went 2 for 3 with a home run. Left-hander Griffin Kirn improved to 6-1 by throwing four scoreless innings. He struck out seven and allowed only two hits.

In the nightcap, Dustin Dupont’s two-run home run in the top of the first inning set the stage for another victory. Gino D’Alessio went 3 for 3 with three runs scored, while Dupont and Brock Boynton each had two hits.

Kobe Essien allowed one hit over four scoreless innings, striking out seven. Roman Harrison, Carter Endisch and Tim Reinholz combined to allow one hit and one walk over three scoreless innings of relief.