O’Connor dominates Bees, Loos hits pair of home runs as Gems cruise to home victory

QUINCY — The only thing that kept Tim O’Connor from completely dominating the Burlington Bees on Friday night was a pitch count.

O’Connor limited the Bees to one hit through 6 2/3 innings, but Prospect League rules forced him to be taken out of the game after 97 pitches. Stefan Stockwell came in to retire the last batter of the game as the Quincy Gems cruised to a 10-0 victory at QU Stadium.

Cedric Dunnwald’s soft line drive single down the right-field line with two outs in the fifth inning was the only hit against O’Connor, who struck out eight batters. He received a standing ovation when he was removed from the game. He walked four and struck out eight.

Quincy scored nine runs in the first two innings. Andrew Fay and Dayson Croes had RBI singles, 

Bennett Eltoft and Jaison Andujar drew bases-loaded walks and Logan Voth had a sacrifice fly in the first inning.

Lucas Loos hit a three-run homer in the second inning, then hit a solo homer in the fourth inning. He now has nine home runs, which is tied for seventh place in the Prospect League. Eltoft also homered in the second inning for the Gems (30-29 overall, 11-16 second half).

Dayson Croes had three hits for the Gems, and he now has 11 hits in his last 13 at-bats. He’s hitting .441 for the summer and has a 16-game hitting streak since joining the team on July 18.

The Gems wrap up the regular season on Saturday at home against Burlington.