Living in a hitter’s paradise: Hawks slug seven home runs, sweep GLVC series from Bulldogs

QUINCY — A sun-splashed Sunday afternoon with the wind whipping into the right-center field gap and temperatures rising above the stocking cap barometer turned QU Stadium into a hitter’s paradise.

No wonder the Quincy University baseball team’s entire lineup salivated over the possibilities.

“I think it’s almost impossible not to, especially when you have 20 flags sitting out there and they’re all waving toward center field,” senior second baseman Nolan Wosman said. “At the end of the day, though, you just want to have a good approach. A lot of us have done a good job of keeping our heads in the right space and living up the middle with things.

“Honestly, that’s worked pretty well for us.”

It did wonders in ensuring the Hawks finished off another weekend sweep. Wosman belted two of Quincy’s seven home runs in a 20-7, seven-inning Great Lakes Valley Conference victory over Truman State.

The Hawks, ranked eighth in the NCBWA Division II national poll, swept the four-game set for their third sweep and fifth series win of the season. Quincy (18-4, 7-1 GLVC) has won seven straight games and 14 of its last 15 games heading into the most anticipated series on the regular-season schedule.

The Hawks travel to the state capitol for a four-game GLVC series with Illinois-Springfield beginning at 2 p.m. Friday. The Prairie Stars, ranked 23rd in the NCBWA poll, are 20-6 overall and 10-2 in the GLVC.

Illinois-Springfield and Quincy were picked first and second, respectively, in the GLVC preseason poll.

“Finishing off a sweep the way we did just boosts the confidence as we go to Springfield,” Wosman said.

Seeing a key part of the rotation enjoy his best outing of the season should boost it even more.

Right-hander Jay Hammel, who struggled in his first three starts before being relegated to the bullpen, rejoined the rotation this weekend and earned his first victory, limiting the Bulldogs to three runs over five innings with five strikeouts.

Despite pitching in hitter’s conditions, Hammel stayed on top of the count, throwing first-pitch strikes to 19 of the 26 batters he faced. He also wriggled out of a couple jams, stranding two runners on base in the second and leaving the bases loaded in the fifth.

“Early, the fastball was working, although you could see I kind of lost command of it toward the end,” Hammel said. “It was the offspeed pitches that helped me stay in the game. A couple of bloopers got me in trouble there, but it’s getting out of those jams that’s important.”

It’s easier to do that knowing the offense is going to pound away.

Wosman hit a two-run home run in the first inning, and Gino D’Alessio followed with a two-run shot in the second. Austin Simpson launched another two-run homer to right field in the third, and then came the fifth inning when the Hawks slammed the door shut.

Leading 6-3, Quincy scored six runs in the fifth as Lance Logsdon and Wosman led off with back-to-back home runs. Zach Parks drilled a two-run pinch-hit home run to right field, and two batters later, Brock Boynton smashed another two-run home run.

“It’s fun sitting in the dugout seeing the ball fly over the wall and getting more runs,” Hammel said. “It makes it a lot more fun to go out there and pitch.”

An eight-run sixth inning showed the Hawks can do more than mash. The left-handed Logsdon and right-handed Wosman led off with back-to-back singles in which both took an outside pitch the other way. Boynton had a two-run single up the middle and all seven hits in the inning were singles.

“Quincy has a reputation for who they recruit and why they recruit them,” Wosman said. “It obviously shows with how our lineup stacks up against some other teams. I think guys stick with the hard line drives, and if they go out, they will. If not, we’ll still get some good bases out of it.”

Some needed momentum heading into a top-25 showdown comes with it.

“Winning’s fun,” Hammel said. “Going into next weekend, we want to keep that mojo up, keep that momentum going.”