Hawks run winning streak to five, knock off No. 3 seed Maryville to advance at GLVC baseball tournament

MARION, Ill. — A two-run single by JD Ortiz in the top of the fourth inning put the Quincy University baseball team ahead for good, and Tom Conzemius continued his recent run of dominant relief pitching to help the Quincy University baseball team win its opener 7-3 over Maryville in the Great Lakes Valley Conference baseball tournament at Mtn. Dew Park.

The sixth-seeded Hawks (26-25), who have won five straight games, will play at 4 p.m. Thursday against Illinois-Springfield, an 11-3 winner over Missouri S&T. Maryville, the No. 3 seed, will play Missouri S&T in the losers bracket at 9 a.m. Thursday.

Quincy scored a solo run in the second inning on an RBI single by Byron Blaise, then added another run in the third on Matt Mateo’s RBI double to left. Maryville tied the score with a two-run home run by Ambrose Russo in the top of the third.

Ortiz’s go-ahead single made the score 4-2 in the top of the fourth, and that score remained unchanged until the seventh. Mateo drove in his second run of the game with a seeing-eye single up the middle, and two batters later, Joe Huffman brought in Mateo with a single to left field. 

Hawks starter Kobe Essien worked into the seventh inning. He gave up an unearned run in the seventh and was pulled after recording two outs. He allowed six hits and one walk while striking out six. 

QU coach Matt Schissel called on Conzemius to finish up. He recorded a strikeout to end the seventh, allowed a one-out single in the eighth and wrapped up the ninth with a strikeout and back-to-back weak groundouts.

Conzemius earned his second save. He has surrendered one earned run in his last 13 2/3 innings pitched.

The Hawks outhit Maryville 13-7, with all nine starters recording a hit. The Hawks committed just one error to the Saints’ five.