20/20 Vision: Hawks score early, often and plenty to get within one victory of NCAA Division II World Series

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — It would appear the Quincy University baseball team tore the cover off the ball when taking a first glance at the boxscore from Friday afternoon’s 20-6 victory over Illinois-Springfield in the NCAA Division II Super Regional.

Sixteen runs in the first four innings. Twenty hits, six of them for extra bases. It was a dominant offensive performance by the Hawks, who must win one of two games on Saturday against the Prairie Stars to earn a trip to Cary, N.C., for the NCAA Division II World Series that begins June 4.

A little good fortune, however, certainly helped the Hawks (37-23) when they scored five runs in the first inning.

Luke Napleton started the game by drawing a walk. Dayson Croes then bunted down the third-base line, and the throw to first from the Prairie Stars’ Anthony Deconcilis was low and first baseman Kai Youngquist couldn’t scoop it.

Gino D’Alessio followed with a line-drive single to left to load the bases, and Lance Logsdon drove in the game’s first two runs with a ground ball that snuck through the right side.

Zach Parks’ single off the end of the bat dropped into left field and scored D’Alessio, and Sebastian Martinez blooped a single over the outstretched glove of Prairie Stars shortstop Nick Mayerhofer to drive in another run. The inning’s last run scored on another ground ball single by Brock Boynton.

“We go walk to start the game, and then we go E3 when essentially Croes was giving himself up because (the Hawks) were trying to play for a run early,” Prairie Stars coach Ryan Copeland said. “It just spiraled from there. We just had some bad ball luck in the first inning, and we couldn’t find a way to end it.

“That’s the worst loss I’ve had in my time here at UIS. I can’t remember a game like that.”

Prairie Stars ace Dylan Gudaitis got just two outs before the Hawks knocked him out of the game, forcing Copeland to dip into the bullpen. QU starter Spencer Walker pitched a scoreless first inning, but the Hawks also knew five runs against a team averaging 10.4 runs per game this season wouldn’t be enough.

“It set the tone early,” QU third baseman Nolan Wosman said. “We knew this first game is going to be the big one, and it’s going to set the tone early. For Spencer to come out and throw the way he did, and for the offense to show up like that, it’s one of the rare days we’ve had this year where the offense and the pitching staff showed up on the same day.”

QU had its way with four Prairie Stars relievers, who threw 197 pitches, walked eight batters and allowed 14 hits. 

Logsdon belted a solo home run to center in the second, and another run scored on Joe Roscetti’s fielder’s choice. QU added four more runs in the third when Napleton walked, Croes singled to right, D’Alessio doubled off the right-field wall and Logsdon homered again, sending a moon shot over the scoreboard in right field to become the university’s all-time leader in home runs.

“At this point, (Logsdon’s homer) could be back over in Missouri,” Wosman said. “I’m not sure where that thing went.”

“That ball went a long way. A long way,” Hawks coach Matt Schissel said with a grin.

Five runs in the fourth all came with two outs. Each run scored after a throwing error by Great Lakes Valley Conference Player of the Year Zion Pettigrew on a play that should have ended the inning. Logsdon drove in two more runs with a double to left, and Wosman and Martinez chipped in with RBI singles.

It was 16-3 after 3 1/2 innings. It was the same score the Hawks lost to the Prairie Stars in the finals of the GLVC Tournament on May 15.

“We kind of got a bad taste in our mouth in the conference championship,” said Wosman, who had three hits, walked twice, scored three times and drove in two runs. “We hit balls hard in that game, too, but we couldn’t get anything to drop. To see them drop this game, and to put up the five and the four pretty quick on them, we saw them kind of like die down. 

“That’s the good thing about this team. We’ve got a couple of guys who at any point could pop off and hit a home run like that or get a big hit. Luke Napleton (who has a team-high 18 home runs) is one of those guys who’s done it all year, but you’ve got Lance, Dayson, even Joe last week in the regional (with seven hits and a home run in four games). Whenever it happens, it’s great. We know, one through nine, we can do it all day around.”

The first seven players in the QU lineup reached base at least three times. Roscetti was the only Hawk who didn’t get a hit, and he drove in two runs. Walker pitched seven innings, allowing nine hits, two walks and five runs.

Illinois-Springfield (46-9) entered the game with 28 victories in its last 30 games and a 23-1 record at home. The Hawks scored eight more runs than any other team had scored all season against the Prairie Stars.

Now they’re on the doorstep of a historic achievement.

“Today wasn’t what I expected,” said Schissel, who is in his first season as the Hawks’ coach. “But it doesn’t matter. None of us came here to win one game. That’s what I told them. You have to show up and win one game tomorrow. We do that, then we’ll talk about (going to the World Series). 

“Show up tomorrow. Win one baseball game. That’s all it is.”