Solid pitching, plenty of hits don’t add up for QHS baseball team in shutout loss at home to Moline

QUINCY — The makings of a victory for the Quincy High School baseball team were there on Wednesday.

The Blue Devils outhit Moline 8-7. Starting pitcher Cameron Lawson threw 6⅔ innings, struck out seven, walked two and only gave up one earned run. Quincy never went down in order in any inning and had a runner reach scoring position in four of seven innings.

A combination of tough luck, the inability to get that timely hit — paired with Moline doing so just enough — and two untimely Quincy errors resulted in a 3-0 Maroons victory in Western Big 6 Conference play.

Blue Devils second baseman Kade Parkhill did not make any excuses.

“It’s frustrating, but it’s part of baseball,” Parkhill said. “If we’re going to be the better team and win the game, we have to overcome that. That can’t be the deciding factor in the game. If we’re good enough, we’ll make the plays to make up for it. We’ll hit the ball, and we’ll score runs.”

The Blue Devils went 0 for 8 with runners in scoring position. Their leadoff hitter in each of the first four innings reached base, but they never cashed in.

“We’re seeing the ball well and hitting it. We’re just not producing when runners are on, myself included,” Parkhill said. “We have to step up when runners are on, especially in conference games.”

Blue Devils coach Rick Lawson was not displeased with his team’s hitting approach. They only struck out once and never did after the fourth inning. However, he admitted the chips sometimes don’t fall in your favor.

“Not only did we outhit them, I mean, we had one inning where we hit four line drives and three were right at somebody,” Lawson said. “We had at-bats like that the whole game. It’s unfortunate, but that’s how this game goes. Sometimes you can hit it as hard as you can possibly hit it, and it’ll be right at somebody, and the next time you hit a bleeder, and it turns into a hit. It’s unfortunate, but that seems to be our luck right now.”

Cameron Lawson was one out away from a complete game before being lifted with two outs in the seventh after 102 pitches. This is the fourth straight start in which Lawson has pitched at least four innings and given up one or no earned runs, yet the Blue Devils are 1-3 in those games.

“He’s gone out there and just dealt,” Rick Lawson said. “I’d put him up against anybody in our conference, and I’d put him up against anyone in the area. He’s going out and giving us what we need. We just have to find a way to win his starts.”

The Maroons’ first two runs were unearned, and all three came with two outs. Tanner Soucinek beat Parkhill’s throw to first on a potential double-play ball in the fourth, allowing Drew Phelps to score the first run of the game.

Soucinek singled with two outs in the sixth to drive in Zach Peterson after an error by third baseman James Day extended the inning. Another two-out error gave the Maroons extra life in the seventh, and Phelps singled home Quentin Nickerson for an insurance run.

The Blue Devils got the tying run to the plate in the seventh after consecutive one-out singles by Day and Jacob Salisbury. Parkhill grounded into a fielder’s choice, narrowly beating the throw to first to bring Cameron Lawson to the plate. Lawson hit a slow ground ball to second baseman Carter Swanson, who flipped the ball to shortstop Keaton Chadler for the final out.

Maroons starter Nolan Edkin threw 6⅓ innings and kept the Blue Devils off the scoreboard despite those eight hits and just one strikeout.

“I was just throwing strikes, and if they were making contact, I was letting my defense make plays,” Edkin said. “Even if they got through, I would come right back on the mound and get back to work.”

The Blue Devils (6-12, 2-6 WB6) have lost two games in three days to Moline following a four-game winning streak. Moline (11-8, 5-3) snapped a three-game losing skid by beating Quincy 11-1 on Monday.

Quincy will host regional foe Granite City on Thursday.

“It’s a must-win game, really,” Parkhill said. “You want to make a statement by beating a regional opponent. We’re going to put this game behind us and look forward to beating them tomorrow.”

Cameron Lawson senses that the Blue Devils are in a good position to do so.

“We’re playing way better baseball than we did at the beginning of the year,” Lawson said. “We just have to keep building on it.”