QND exacts revenge for loss to Beardstown as Dance shuts down Tigers’ offense

QUINCY — Dalton Miller knew there’d never be a snowball effect.

Still, responding quickly and succinctly to last week’s three-run loss at Beardstown was vitally important for the Quincy Notre Dame baseball team to ensure such sour taste would be swished away for good.

Winning four games in six days and capping it with a victory in the rematch with the Tigers washed it all away.

“A loss is a loss. That’s all it is,” Miller, the junior first baseman, said after the Raiders picked up a 4-1 victory over Beardstown on Thursday at Ferd Niemann Jr. Memorial Ballfield. “We’re a team that can bounce back way easier than some of the other guys.”

Stellar pitching and an opportunistic second trip through the batting order proved it.

Junior right-hander Tyler Dance allowed one run and three hits over 6 ⅓ innings, reaching his pitch limit after getting the first out in the seventh. Miller came on for the save, sandwiching a strikeout and an infield popout around a hit batter.

Both benefited from a flawless defense, which sucked up three groundouts and tucked away 11 flyouts or popouts in handing Beardstown its first loss of the season.

“You can have a shutout pitcher on the mound, but if you don’t have a defense to back him up, you’re not going to get much done,” Miller said.

The Raiders (14-2) are blessed with a defense that can track down a lot.

“We probably have the best outfield in the area coverage-wise,” Raiders coach Ryan Oden said. “We try to tell our pitchers to let the defense eat. Tyler did a great job of getting those timely outs when we needed them in ground ball and flyball situations.”

Coming off a career-high 13 strikeouts in last Saturday’s victory against Illini West, Dance struck out five and walked one. He challenged the Tigers with his fastball and let the defense do the work this time.

“I knew I had a pitch limit, so I had to let the defense work and make the plays behind me,” Dance said. “The defense played a hell of a game behind me.”

The offense gave him a boost, too.

Beardstown (12-1) snared the lead in the second as Will Davidsmeier led off with a single and went to third on Micah Wink’s single. A ground ball resulting in a forceout at second base plated Davidsmeier, but Dance got a pair of flyouts to center field to get out of the inning.

In the bottom of the frame, QND’s Alex Connoyer led off with a single, went to second on a balk, took third on a groundout and scored on Jake Schisler’s groundout to tie the game at 1.

“To know they have my back like that, it’s massive for us,” Dance said.

The Raiders weren’t done.

“One of our strong suits is our bats,” Miller said.

In the third inning, Jack Linenfelser led off with a walk and Michael Stupavsky put down a sacrifice bunt to move Linenfelser into scoring position. After Ben Kasparie reached on an error give the Raiders runners at the corners, Tucker Tollerton drove in the go-ahead run with a single to right field.

After Tollerton stole second, Miller delivered a two-run single to up the middle for a 4-1 lead.

“We were trying to tell them, especially the inning we got the runs, to just sit breaking ball and take the fastball the other way,” Oden said. “I think a lot of guys said they could pick up the fastball a lot better if they were sitting breaking ball.”

Everything was put into motion by Stupavsky’s bunt.

“We don’t bunt a lot,” Oden said. “For him to do that was huge for our guys.”

Dance didn’t let the lead get away.

“I thought he had a really good rhythm on the mound,” Oden said.

His presence was dynamic, too.

“I love the attitude that he has,” Miller said. “He’s a big, big team player, even when he’s not on the mound.”