Conzemius stellar in relief as QU baseball team inches closer to GLVC Tournament berth

KIRKSVILLE, Mo. – The Quincy University baseball team didn’t gain much ground in its chase for a berth in the Great Lakes Valley Conference tournament next week, but it didn’t lose any.

The Hawks traveled to Truman State on Thursday for the final four-game series of the regular season, winning the opener 6-3 behind a superb relief effort from Tom Conzemius.

Quincy (22-25 overall, 15-14 in the GLVC) remains tied for sixth place with Missouri S&T, which also won on Thursday. Missouri-St. Louis (14-14 in the GLVC) is in eighth place after not playing on Thursday. Rockhurst (14-15 in the GLVC) is in ninth place after its victory on Thursday. Missouri-St. Louis has four games remaining, while the other three teams have three games remaining. The top eight teams qualify for next week’s tournament.

Both teams went scoreless through the first two frames, but the Hawks jumped on the board first in the top of the third inning after Isaiah Fudge hit a solo homer. Truman State answered with a run of its own in the home half on an RBI fielder’s choice, then took the lead with an RBI single in the fourth inning.

The Hawks scored three times in the fifth. Matt Mateo tied the game with an RBI double, driving in his 53rd run this season. Three batters later, Jake Vitale hit a two-out, two-run double.

Byron Blaise and Mateo both had RBI singles for the Hawks in the sixth. 

Truman State knocked out the Hawks starter Kobe Essien after four innings. Conzemius came in and pitched five innings, giving up one unearned run on five hits and one walk, and he struck out six.

Truman State brought the tying run to the plate in the ninth inning after a pair of singles off Conzemius, but a flyout to centerfield ended the game.