Gems start, finish strong to capture division playoff game, will play for conference title

CLINTON, Iowa — Lucas Loos got it started. Joe Siervo made sure it’s going to keep going.

Loos, the Payson product and starting third baseman for the Quincy Gems, belted a two-run home run in the top of the first inning of Sunday’s Great River Division playoff game against the Clinton LumberKings.

After Clinton rallied in the third inning to take a 4-2 lead, Siervo got it back. The Gems center fielder belted a bases-clearing double in the fifth inning, Otto Jones followed with an RBI single and the bullpen made the lead last for a 6-5 victory at NelsonCorp Field.

The Gems advance to the Western Conference championship game Tuesday against the Thrillville Thrillbillies in Marion,Ill.

With one out in the top of the first, the Gems’ Jimmy Koza singled and took second on a wild pitch after Kyle Hvidsten popped out on the infield. Loos hammered a two-run home run to left field for his 14th home run of the season, which ties him with O’Fallon’s Michael Long for the league lead. Loos also leads the Prospect League with 64 RBIs.

Quincy Notre Dame graduate Jake Schisler started for the Gems and worked two scoreless innings before running into trouble in the third. The LumberKings used a leadoff single, a stolen base and two groundouts to plate a run. Back-to-back singles led to Clinton’s Jeremy Figueroa hitting a three-run homer for a 4-2 advantage.

Schisler got out of the inning and worked a scoreless fourth inning before being pulled. He struck out two, walked none and allowed five hits.

The Gems got Schisler off the hook with a four-run outburst in the fifth.

Koza reached on an error leading off, Hvidsten singled and Loos walked to load the bases. Jaison Andujar hit a lineout to left field, and Koza was thrown out at home trying to advance for the second out of the inning. Tristan Meny reached on an error to reload the bases, and Siervo followed with his bases-clearing double. Jones drove Siervo home with a single.

Davin Meier threw two scoreless innings of relief, and Jake Syverson followed with another scoreless inning. In the eighth, Gems reliever Tanner Gerdes allowed a single, a stolen base and an RBI double to begin the inning, but he settled down and got three consecutive outs to strand the tying run at second.

In the ninth, Gems reliever Stephen Eskridge retired the LumberKings in order, getting a popout and two groundouts to earn the save. Meier, the Camp Point product who pitches at Culver-Stockton College, earned the victory as he retired all six batters he faced.