Birthday bonanza: Kirn twirls gem, Hawks’ offense comes alive in victory over Bearcats to open series

QUINCY — Griffin Kirn would have been satisfied with a victory for his 22nd birthday.

His performance on the mound became the icing on the cake.

Kirn allowed just one run over six innings and struck out eight in the Quincy University baseball team’s 13-1 victory Friday over Southwest Baptist to open the four-game Great Lakes Valley Conference series at QU Stadium.

“It’s awesome,” Kirn said. “Just getting the win is a great birthday present in itself, but going out there, competing in the zone and giving our guys a chance to win was pretty special.”

Said QU coach Matt Schissel, “We couldn’t have asked for much more. Good birthday present for him and for the Hawks.”

In his first collegiate appearance, junior Alex Pickus tossed a 1-2-3 seventh inning with two strikeouts to finish off the Hawks’ victory.

Pickus missed his freshman season with tendinitis in his throwing hand and did not get into a game as a sophomore, but when the opportunity arose on Friday, he was ready.

“It was pretty sweet,” Pickus said. “I had a lot of guys cheering me on. It’s pretty surreal.”

All of the Hawks’ runs came in the third and fourth innings.

The first seven batters reached base in the bottom of the third. Dustin DuPont doubled in a run to break the scoreless tie, then JD Ortiz singled to drive in two more, Cole Erickson cashed in the Hawks’ fourth run with an RBI single, and Ortiz crossed the plate on a Brock Boynton sacrifice fly.

Quincy (15-23, 12-13 GLVC) scored six of its eight runs in the fourth on home runs, the first of which was a two-run shot by DuPont, who was itching to make up for his dropped fly ball in right field just three batters into the game.

“That was honestly maybe one of the worst things I’ve ever done on a baseball field,” DuPont said of his error. “The good thing about baseball is you can pretty much always get a second chance. You just have to come back after you mess up.”

Jake Vitale provided the second of those fourth-inning home runs with a grand slam that extended the Hawks’ lead to 11-0.

Vitale said despite the Hawks’ record this is a confident group.

“We have a lot of confidence because we have a lot of great ballplayers that can really do their thing,” he said. “Whenever we’re firing on all cylinders like today, we’re a tough team to beat no matter who we’re playing.”

The Hawks ended Friday in a five-way tie for sixth place in the GLVC with 11 leagues game still to play. The top eight teams make the conference postseason tournament. QU has not missed the tournament since 2010.

Schissel made it clear how important this four-game series is for the Hawks to stay in the postseason hunt.

“Capital letters, ‘VERY,'” he said. “We did a really good job setting the tone for the weekend. Now we’ve got to come out tomorrow and continue that.”

Quincy and Southwest Baptist (10-29, 7-18 GLVC) will play a doubleheader on Saturday beginning at noon, then a single game on Sunday at noon.