‘We had a great mood today’: Raiders relish opportunity to play, shut out Panthers

QUINCY — Ben Kasparie went to the plate with two outs in the top of the fifth inning Friday needing a triple to complete the cycle.

He didn’t allow that to change his approach.

Everything stayed simple.

“Think about nothing, honestly,” the Quincy Notre Dame senior center fielder said. “A clear mind. Just seeing the ball in. That’s about it.”

Kasparie saw it all the way to the barrel every time.

An RBI single in that final at-bat left him short of the cycle, but Kasparie went 4 for 4 with a two-run home run in the second inning as the QND baseball team rolled to an 11-0, five-inning victory over Central at Ferd Niemann Jr. Memorial Ballfield.

“Pretty good day,” Kasparie said with a smile. “That will help the average out a lot.”

He and the Raiders (19-2) were thrilled just to get to play.

Friday’s consistent rain wiped out nearly every high school game on the docket, but the turf infield at The Ferd enabled QND and Central to change venues and move the game from Camp Point to Quincy. By mid-afternoon, the downpours were nothing more than a drizzle, and by gametime the rain had ceased.

“We get a text from Coach that says, ‘We might have a chance. Come out to the field,’” Kasparie said after the Raiders won their 10th consecutive game. “It started to clear up and everybody’s mood got better. We had a great mood today. Everybody was in their zone. We got in and out. It was perfect today.”

It showed in the way the Raiders played with bounce and joy.

“You feel blessed, honestly,” right fielder Tucker Tollerton said.

Hitting as the visiting team because it was scheduled to be a road game, the Raiders got off to a fast start, scoring four runs in the top of the first. Kasparie led off the game with a double, and the first three batters reached safely against Panthers starter Steven Miller.

Alex Connoyer’s sacrifice fly plated the first run, while Harry Oden and Jake Schisler followed with RBI singles. Dalton Miller scored on a wild pitch in between those singles.

QND finished with 11 hits and had productive outs, getting back-to-back sacrifice flies by Tollerton and Miller in the fourth inning.

“We hit the ball hard, found the gaps and got it done,” said Tollerton, who went 1 for 2 with two RBIs. “It was good situational hitting.”

It centered around taking a quality approach.

“If you go up to the plate thinking I’ve got to get a double every time, it’s not going to work,” Kasparie said. “You just have to do your job. Your job might be hitting a fly ball to right field or a grounder to get the guy over.”

Schisler started and threw three innings, allowing one hit and one walk while striking out five. Connoyer threw the final two innings with four strikeouts. Conner Griffin had Central’s lone hit.

The limited number of pitches both right-handers threw — Schisler tossed 41 pitches and Connoyer only 20 — should have them both available early next week when the Raiders play seven games in six days if the weather cooperates.

The stretch begins Monday with a trip to Brown County, which owns a 20-1 record.

“We’re going to get young guys in there,” Kasparie said. “We’ve got young guys on the field getting ready. We’re going to need everybody.”