QU baseball team’s offense continues hitting late-season stride, batters McKendree in series opener

LEBANON, Ill. — The Quincy University baseball team is doing what a team in contention for a Great Lakes Valley Conference Tournament berth should be doing.

The Hawks are pummeling the bottom feeders.

After scoring 36 runs in a four-game sweep of Southwest Baptist last weekend, Quincy opened a four-game GLVC series with McKendree on Friday with a 17-7 victory despite a rain delay and the constant threat of storms.

The Hawks (19-24, 16-13 GLVC) scored six runs in the first inning and notched at least one run in each of the first six innings of the seven-inning, mercy-rule victory. A walk and a hit batter, both with the bases loaded, contributed to the early outburst and David Borughton capped the inning with a two-run single.

The Hawks’ Jake Vitale hit a three-run home run in the second inning, and he and Cole Erickson hit back-to-back home runs in the fifth. QU’s Dustin DuPont belted a two-run home run in the sixth.

Vitale finished 3 for 4 with three runs scored and five RBIs, while Erickson and DuPont each drove in three runs.

QU left-hander Griffin Kirn improved to 6-1 as he allowed one run and three hits over four innings. He struck out four and walked two and did not return after the rain delay.

The Hawks currently sit in fifth place in the GLVC standings — the top eight teams make the conference tournament — with a doubleheader against the Bearcats scheduled to begin at noon Saturday.