Harrison adjusting to role as starting pitcher, gives Hawks seven strong innings in Friday split

QUINCY — Roman Harrison is still in the adjustment phase.

A back-of-the-bullpen performer since the day he joined the Quincy University baseball program, the junior left-hander made 44 relief appearances before ever being asked to be a starter. 

“It’s different for sure,” Harrison said. “I’m not really used to it quite yet, so I just have to treat it like a relief appearance. That’s the way I prepared before the game, like I was going out there for relief.”

He provided the Hawks with some needed relief Friday afternoon.

An opportunistic offense helped with that, too.

After allowing Drury to score five times in the top of the ninth inning to rally for a 13-11 victory in the first game of the Great Lakes Valley Conference doubleheader, the Hawks rallied for a 20-1 victory in the nightcap as Harrison tossed a complete game and Matt Mateo belted three home runs at QU Stadium.

“That was huge,” Harrison said. “After losing on a comeback like that, you have to turn around and really grind down and get gritty.”

It could change the trajectory of the season if the Hawks can build some momentum, beginning with Saturday’s doubleheader scheduled to begin at noon at QU Stadium.

Seeing Harrison take the ball and run with the opportunity should help.

“Anything to help my team win,” Harrison said. “Anything I can do to help us win I’m always game for.”

Against Drury, he allowed one earned run and two hits, while throwing a complete game. He struck out eight, walked none and kept the Panthers off-balance the entire game.

“All my pitches were working, and we had some great plays on defense,” Harrison said. “We were able to put some runs together where I could relax a little bit.”

When it was over, he hadn’t hardly realized he went seven innings or threw 94 pitches.

“I go into a trance and kind of black out in a way,” Harriuson said. “I don’t worry about how long I’m out there. It doesn’t really register with me until afterward, and that’s when I realize I went that many innings.”

After the bullpen struggles in Game 1, a solid start was needed.

“He’s had a couple good outings and hopefully he will continue to grow in that role,” QU coach Matt Schissel said.

Harrison will get every opportunity to stay a starter.

“We just had to shake some things up,” said Schissel, whose team is 12-16 overall and 5-5 in th GLVC. “We move the lineup around a little bit. We moved some things in the bullpen a little bit. Something wasn’t clicking, and obviously, we have to find something that does. Obviously, it clicked today in Game 2 so we have to keep doing that.”

The Hawks quickly put the Game 1 nightmare behind them, scoring eight times in the bottom of the first inning as Harry Fandre kickstarted everything with a grand slam. Carson Moreno and Mateo followed with a pair of two-run home runs.

The hits and the runs kept coming as the Hawks piled up 20 knocks with nine extra-base hits.

Mateo went 5 for 5 with three home runs and six RBIs and finished the doubleheader going 8n of 11 with eight RBIs.

“That’s a good day,” Schissel said. “He got some good swings on the baseball. It was important for him to impact our lineup at the top.”