Harrison, Hawks weather storm to pick up victory in first round of GLVC Tournament

MARION, Ill. — After left-handed reliever Roman Harrison navigated the top of the 10th inning without worry Wednesday, staff ace Griffin Kirn approached him in the dugout and asked if he was good to go back out for another inning.

“I said, ‘No, we’re going to walk it off this inning,’” Harrison said.

Not even Nostradamus was this good.

Moments after Harrison said that, Quincy University catcher Dustin DuPont belted a home run into the right-field bullpen at Mtn. Dew Park, giving the Hawks a 5-4 victory over Missouri-St. Louis in the opening game of the Great Lakes Valley Conference Tournament.

“In the bullpen, we go back and forth with people trying to have their crystal balls and guessing what’s going to happen,” Harrison said. “Sometimes I do get them right, and other times I’m really, really wrong.”

He had positioned himself and the Hawks to be right on the money.

Harrison struck out UMSL’s Kameron Laskowski on a full-count fastball to open the ninth inning of a tie game before lightning was detected within 7 miles of the stadium and a weather delay ensued. Harrison expected to return to the mound when the delay ended, which was about 90 minutes later.

“I started throwing about 15 minutes before we started the game back up,” Harrison said. “That’s about all I did during the delay.”

The Hawks expected Harrison to be ready.

“A guy like Roman doesn’t need much to get ready to throw again no matter how long of a wait or how short of a wait that is for him,” DuPont said. “He’s always going to go out there and throw strikes and give us a chance at least.”

After the delay, Harrison got a lineout and a groundout to end the ninth. The Hawks were able to get two runners on base with one out in the bottom of the ninth, but a double play negated the scoring opportunity and Harrison went back to the mound.

“Nobody in the dugout was expecting us to lose,” Harrison said. “We didn’t expect to lose.”

After a flyout and a strikeout, Harrison hit a batter, but he struck out the Tritons’ Barrett Rose to end the inning.

“I was really just throwing strikes,” Harrison said. “I had some great plays behind me and (DuPont) is always working to get me strikes.”

DuPont also made Harrison and the Hawks winners.

“It’s the best,” Harrison said. “Winning that first one is the real deal. You want to get that first one out of the way. It was huge.”