Hawks suffer pair of late-inning losses, will attempt to earn series split with Sunday’s finale

COLUMBUS, Ga. — The Quincy University baseball team had the chance Saturday to make a serious statement about its ability to contend for a national tournament berth.

Now it has to hope for a split on Sunday.

Late-inning situations did not favor the Hawks as they surrendered the lead in the sixth inning or later in both games of a doubleheader against No. 8 Columbus State. The Cougars scored twice in the bottom of the seventh to win 7-6 in Game 1 and then plated eight runs in the bottom of the sixth for a 10-6 victory in Game 2.

Quincy (3-3) will try to salvage a weekend split in Sunday’s finale. Senior right-hander Jay Hammel will get the start.

In the opener, the Hawks trailed 6-3 going to the sixth when they loaded the bases before Gino D’Alessio drew a run-scoring walk and Dayson Croes delivered an RBI single to right field. The bases were left loaded as Lance Logsdon and Austin Simpson struck out to end the inning.

In the seventh, the Hawks had two on and two out when Brock Boynton smacked an RBI single to tie the game and D’Alessio added an RBI single to plate the go-ahead run. In the bottom of the inning, however, left-hander Sam Stephens couldn’t make the lead last.

Stephens walked the lead-off hitter, hit a batter with a pitch with one out and allowed both runners to get into position courtesy a wild pitch. With two outs, the Cougars’ Steven Minter hit a sharp grounder to D’Alessio at shortstop, but the smash took a high hop into the outfield to allow both runners to score to win the game.

Tanner Dreher went 3 for 4 with three runs scored, while Nolan Wosman added two hits for the Hawks.

In the nightcap, left-hander Griffin Kirn handcuffed the Cougars for the first five innings, but he ran into trouble in the sixth when the first three batters reached safely to load the bases. The Hawks went to the bullpen, but a passed ball and a walk led to another pitching change.

Nolan Roseman gave up an RBI single and then walked three consecutive batters with the bases loaded to fuel the Cougars’ rally. The Hawks tried to put something together in the seventh as Wosman drew a one-out walk and Simpson followed with a double down the left-field line. However, the next two batters struck out to end the game.

Logsdon, Wosman and Luke Napleton each had two hits for the Hawks, while Kirn struck out five and allowed five hits over five innings.