Huff and puff and blow Bearcats away: Hawks belt eight home runs in GLVC series finale

LEBANON, Ill. — Joe Huffman made certain the Quincy University baseball team went into the final week of the regular season with momentum.

Jake Vitale helped ensure that, too.

Huffman blasted three home runs Sunday and Vitale jacked two, the second of which gave the Hawks the lead for good in an 18-10 slugfest victory over McKendree to wrap up their Great Lakes Valley Conference series at Hypes Field.

With the victory, the Hawks won three of the four games in the series and have won seven of their last eight GLVC games, moving them into a tie for fifth in the league standings. The top eight teams qualify for the GLVC Tournament.

Quincy (21-25, 18-14 GLVC) plays host to Illinois-Springfield (26-19, 17-15 GLVC) beginning at 3 p.m. Thursday in the final GLVC series. The Hawks and Prairie Stars are among five teams within two games of each other battling for four tournament spots.

Sunday, the offense gave the Hawks the upperhand in their tourney pursuit.

They belted eight home runs total, collected 17 hits and had every starter score at least one run. Huffman finished 3 for 6 with six RBIs, while Vitale went 4 for 5 with three RBIs. Dustin DuPont homered, doubled and drove in four runs.

David Broughton and JD Ortiz also homered.

Vitale’s two-run home run in the fifth inning gave the Hawks an 8-6 lead, while Broughton hit a solo shot and Huffman smacked a two-run homer in the sixth to extend the lead to 11-6. Huffman hit another two-run homer in the seventh to help extend the advantage to 15-6. The lead ultimately ballooned to 18-8 heading into the ninth.

Four QU pitchers helped navigate the day with Josh Hempelman throwing three scoreless innings of relief with four strikeouts to earn the victory.