Broughton helps Hawks move into tie for seventh in GLVC with doubleheader sweep at Lincoln

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — The Quincy University baseball team helped itself for getting into one of the top eight spots in the Great Lakes Valley Conference standings, winning a doubleheader Thursday afternoon at Lincoln University by scores of 8-2 and 15-3.

The sweep moved the Hawks (18-22, 11-11 in the GLVC) into a tie with William Jewell for seventh place in the conference, one game behind sixth-place Missouri S&T (13-11) and two games behind fifth-place Indianapolis (13-9). Lincoln fell to 4-34, 2-10 in the GLVC.

The top eight teams in the league qualify for the conference tournament on May 7-10 at Mtn. Dew Park in Marion.

Kobe Essien, named the GLVC’s Pitcher of the Week last week, was strong again Thursday. He allowed back-to-back solo home runs in the fourth inning but stayed out of trouble during the rest of the first game. He finished with 10 strikeouts and tossed a complete game.

QU scored single tallies in the first and third innings. After Lincoln tied the score with its two homers, Matt Mateo put the Hawks back on top with a solo homer. Quincy put the game away with four runs in the eighth and one more in the ninth.

Sophomore David Broughton’s RBI single contributed to a two-run first inning. Mateo’s sacrifice fly put the Hawks ahead 3-0 in the second inning. A two-run homer from Joe Huffman made the score 5-0 in the third inning.

Broughton hit a three-run homer as part of a four-run fourth inning that made the score 9-0. The Hawks scored twice in the fifth, and they plated four more runs in the sixth. Quinn Schultz hit a home run.

Kyle Manship allowed three runs in five innings to earn the victory. Josh Hempelman and Alex Pickus each pitched a scoreless inning.

Quincy will play another doubleheader on Friday to wrap up the series against Lincoln.