Magic number for QU baseball team to qualify for GLVC postseason tournament down to one

KIRKSVILLE, Mo. – The magic number for the Quincy University baseball team is one.

Winning one of two games on Saturday at Truman State, or a Rockhurst loss at William Jewell, will clinch a berth in the Great Lakes Valley Conference postseason tournament next week.

Quincy inched closer to one of the tournament’s eight spots with an 8-2 victory on Friday over Truman State.

The Hawks (23-25 overall) improved to 16-14 in conference play, and they are a half-game behind Missouri S&T (17-14) for sixth place. Missouri-St. Louis (15-15) is in eighth place after splitting a doubleheader against Maryville on Friday. Rockhurst (15-16) is the odd team out for now, falling to ninth place after a doubleheader split with William Jewell.

If Quincy loses two on Saturday and Rockhurst wins a single game, the teams will be tied with 16-16 league records. Rockhurst won three of four games against the Hawks during a series in March.

Quincy took a 1-0 lead with an unearned run in the first inning against Truman State, then added two more runs in the second on a sacrifice fly by David Broughton and a two-out RBI single by Harry Fandre.

The lead grew to 6-0 in the fourth inning. Broughton and Joe Huffman both drove in a run with a single, and Fandre had a sacrifice fly.

Hawks starter Roman Harrison gave up a run in the fourth and another in the sixth. However, Carson Moreno hit a solo homer to lead off the seventh inning for QU, and Jake Vitale hit a run-scoring double to close out the scoring in the eighth.

Harrison allowed six runs, three walks and two runs while striking out eight in eight innings. Chase Golden allowed two baserunners in the ninth but no runs.

Isaiah Fudge had four hits and scored two runs for the Hawks.