Rally enables Hawks to complete first weekend of sweep of season, continue building momentum

QUINCY — A rally. A sweep. And a new perspective.

That’s what Sunday brought to the Quincy University baseball program.

The Hawks erased a six-run deficit, took the lead with four runs in the seventh inning and finished off a 10-7 victory over Southwest Baptist at QU Stadium. With that, Quincy swept the four-game Great Lakes Valley Conference series for its first weekend sweep of the season.

It also moved the Hawks (18-23, 15-13 GLVC) into a four-way tie for fifth place in the league standings with eight games remaining. The top eight teams qualify for the postseason tournament with QU closing the season at McKendree and then at home against Illinois-Springfield.

Both opponents sit below QU in the standings.

It took some moxie to get into this position. Down 6-0 after allowing six runs over the first two innings, Quincy got on the board in the fourth when JD Ortiz jacked a three-run home run to right field. In the fifth, the Hawks tied the game as Dustin DuPont delivered a two-run single and Ortiz drove in another run with a single.

The Bearcats parlayed a single and two walks into a run on a sacrifice fly to go ahead 7-6 in the top of the seventh. In the bottom of the frame, Joe Huffman and Ortiz connected for back-to-back RBI singles with one out and Cole Erickson followed with a two-run double to complete the four-run outburst.

Ben Draeger worked a 1-2-3 eighth inning and Roman Harrison picked up his sixth save with a scoreless ninth to put an exclamation point on the sweep.

Ortiz finished 3 for 4 with five RBIs, while DuPont had two hits.