Raiders find success can be blowing in the wind with another offensive outburst

QUINCY — Put on a pitch limit Saturday, Quincy Notre Dame right-hander Tyler Dance knew he needed to be efficient and aggressive.

Being backed by a born-to-hit lineup made that easy.

Dance threw three scoreless innings, his teammates collected 17 hits and the QND baseball team capped a run-filled week with a 19-0, four-inning victory over Jacksonville at The Ferd. In doing so, the Raiders ran their win streak to four, scoring 66 runs in the process.

“We came prepared today,” Dance said. “We had a long week, but we’ve been hitting our (batting practice) hard and been working at it. We came out swinging today. That was really good.”

There’s nothing this group enjoys more than bashing baseballs, even in less-than-ideal conditions.

The wind gusted to as much as 35 mph prior to the 1 p.m. first pitch and was steady blowing in from left field throughout the game. The temperature, although not bitterly cold in the low 40s, dipped because of the wind, making hands hurt when the ball didn’t find the barrel.

“Today was really rough,” QND coach Rich Polak said. “We hit at the facility this morning inside, and then we came out and it was windy as all get out. And man, it was cold. After we got the two runs in the first inning, that might be it for the day.

“Our guys are seasoned though. For high school hitters, they have an idea what they’re doing. They hit some balls hard.”

Back-to-back RBI singles in the first inning by Dalton Miller and Brady Kindhart gave the Raiders (7-1) the lead. In the second inning, a two-run double by Jake Schisler, a two-run single by Miller and an RBI single by Alex Connoyer highlighted a seven-run frame.

A 10-run third inning featured a Miller RBI triple and Michael Stupavsky’s grand slam to left field into the teeth of the wind.

Schisler, Miller and Kindhart each had three hits and every starter had at least one single.

“I feel good where we’re at right now,” Polak said. “Even in rough conditions, we had good at-bats.”

The Raiders enjoyed quality innings from their pitching and defense, too.

Dance struck out four and allowed one hit, while Schisler worked around an error in the fourth inning to post a hitless, scoreless frame. 

“My fastball command was good, and it felt like it had a little more velo than normal,” said Dance, who threw 55 pitches. “I think I was able to locate that pretty well.”

It’s the kind of effort he needed in his second start of the season to find a groove. 

“I wanted to feel my pitches and face live batters,” Dance said. “My arm feels good, and I’m throwing once a week to get ready. Everything is working well right now.”