Walker befuddles Cardinals’ offense as Hawks open weekend series with shutout

QUINCY — Spencer Walker never gave Saginaw Valley State a chance.

The Quincy University right-hander held the Cardinals hitless through the first six innings Friday, leaned on his defense to turn double plays in each of the final three innings and guided the Hawks to a 10-0 non-conference victory at QU Stadium.

It was Quincy’s sixth straight and set the perfect tone for the weekend.

Walker did that with a 1-2-3 first inning.

He struck out Saginaw Valley State’s Reed Raymond leading off the game and got a pair of groundouts to end the first. Walker set down 18 of the first 19 batters he faced, only a fifth-inning fielding error keeping him from being perfect at that point.

The Hawks led 8-0 before the Cardinals’ Colin Cornwell led off the seventh with an infield single. Saginaw’s Hayden Jatczak grounded into a double play four pitches later, and Walker struck out Martin Money to end the inning.

In the eighth, a one-out single was erased with an inning-ending double play. In the ninth, a leadoff single and stolen base allowed the Cardinals to threaten, but a line out-force out double play quelled the rally. Despite allowing two singles thereafter, Walker induced a groundout to second baseman Dayson Croes to end the game.

Walker struck out seven, walked none and allowed five hits — all singles.

He pitched with the lead the final eight innings. The Hawks took control in the first when Lance Logsdon followed a Gino D’Alessio double with a home run to left field. Luke Napleton’s RBI single in the second inning made it 3-0, and Logsdon delivered an RBI double and Zach Parks an RBI single in the third.

Nolan Wosman extended the lead to 8-0 in the sixth with a three-run home run. Logsdon homered to right-center field in the eighth and Wosman scored on an error following Sebastian Martinez’s single.

Logsdon finished 4 for 5 with four RBIs, while Napleton, D’Alessio, Wosman and Joe Roscetti each had two hits. Eight of Quincy’s nine starters had at least one hit as part of a 15-hit attack.

The Hawks (25-18) and Cardinals (18-22) are scheduled to resume the weekend series at noon Saturday with a doubleheader.