Reversal of call on stolen base by D’Alessio turns into huge momentum shift for Hawks

QUINCY — Gino D’Alessio‘s demonstrative reaction to being called out on a stolen base attempt and insistence he was safe made the decision easy for Quincy University baseball coach Matt Schissel to ask for a video review.

After that, all they could do was wait.

“I didn’t know what kind of view of the play they’d have,” Schissel said, noting the camera angle which two umpires reviewed came from the first-base side.

It revealed what D’Alessio insisted had happened. The tag was high.

“He tagged me on the cleat,” D’Alessio said. “As soon as the shortstop tagged me, he was like, ‘I got him on the foot.’ And as soon as he said it, the umpire called me out and was like, ‘He got you on the foot.’ But my hand was already there.”

Seeing that, the umpires overturned the call, allowed D’Alessio to safely stay at second base and forced Illinois-Springfield to return to the field defensively in order to record another out to finish off the bottom of the third inning.

The Hawks took full advantage of the extra opportunity.

Right fielder Zach Parks walked in the following at-bat, and designated hitter Dayson Croes unloaded a three-run home run to right field for a 3-0 lead that propelled the Hawks to a 7-6 victory over the No. 13 Prairie Stars in the final game of the first Great Lakes Valley Conference series of the season.

“That was probably the biggest hit of the year so far for us as a team,” D’Alessio said. “We desperately needed it, and he came through at the right time.”

Truth be told, D’Alessio expected something like that to happen.

“The reason I was so demonstrative is because I know our team, and whenever we get guys in scoring position, we come through no matter who it is,” D’Alessio said. “You saw it. We got one more guy on and Dayson hits the three-run home run. 

“It ended up playing out the way we needed it to. It was a big momentum shift for sure with that call being overturned.”

The Hawks never allowed the momentum to fade.

“Gino is a momentum kid,” Schissel said. “That play kind of turned things for him, and the whole team got on his back. Dayson came up and gave us a start. They rode the momentum.”