Dance hurls one-hit shutout as Raiders blast another potential postseason foe

BEARDSTOWN, Ill. — The Quincy Notre Dame baseball team delivered a strong message to a potential regional opponent Thursday afternoon.

The Raiders are ready to Dance.

Behind a one-hit shutout by right-hander Tyler Dance and a dominant effort from the top of the batting order, the Raiders rolled to a 13-0, five-inning victory over Beardstown at Lewis Field. QND beat Beardstown for the regional championship last season and the teams are in the same Class 2A sub-sectional this season.

Dance was dominant, needing just 51 pitches and 39 strikes to navigate five innings. He struck out seven, walked none and retired the first 12 batters he faced. A leadoff single by Ethan Heller in the bottom of the fifth broke up the perfect game.

It helps being able to pitch with the lead.

Jake Schisler led off the game with a double and scored on Tucker Tollerton’s triple. Dalton Miller plated Tollerton with a groundout to give Dance a 2-0 lead before he got on the hill. Schisler made it 3-0 with a one-out home run in the second. A Miller double and a Brady Kindhart RBI single made it 4-0.

The Raiders doubled their lead in the third inning by capitalizing on two Tigers errors. QND scored five times in the fifth as Miller had a two-run double and Jack Linenfelser added an RBI double. Tollerton and Miller both went 3 for 4, while Schisler was 2 for 3 with three runs scored. The Raiders finished with six extra-base hits.

QND (15-1) continues its 10-game road trip by traveling to Illini West at 4:30 p.m. Friday.