Play at the plate gives Hawks emotional boost necessary to finish off Greyhounds

ST. LOUIS — Everything had to work in unison to allow the Quincy University baseball team to turn near disaster into a defining moment.

With two outs in the seventh inning Friday afternoon and the bases loaded, Hawks right-handed reliever Alex Pribyl uncorked a wild pitch that bounced over catcher Luke Napleton, went to the backstop and seemingly was going to allow Indianapolis’ Bo Minor to score.

Napleton quickly retrieved the ball, which caromed off the backstop, and flipped it to Pribyl covering the plate. Pribyl got himself between Minor and the base, tagging him before he could safely slide headfirst across the plate.

It ended the inning and changed the tone completely.

“In my opinion, that was the game right there,” QU closer Sam Stephens said. “It was one of those situations where he got him out at the plate and they were just kind of defeated after that.”

Although the Greyhounds threatened in the eighth inning, Pribyl worked out of the jam turned the ball over to Stephens, who struck out the side in the ninth inning to preserve a 4-3 victory and move the Hawks deeper into the winner’s bracket of the Great Lakes Valley Conference Tournament.

“Unbelievable. It was unbelievable,” QU coach Matt Schissel said of the play at the plate. “That’s the best way I can put it.”