St. Louis – The Maryville baseball team received an outstanding pitching performance from
AJ Dean in the series opener to help the Saints earn a sweep of Great Lakes Valley Conference rival, Quincy University Sunday afternoon. The Saints won the opener of the series, 4-2 and then earned a 9-7 win in the nightcap at Weber Field.
The Saints opened the scoring in the series opener with a pair of runs in the third inning when
Danny Covert opened the frame with a single to right field and then stole second base.
Cody Klotz and
Louis Niemerg drew back-to-back walks to load the bases for
Mitch Carriger, who hit a sacrifice fly to right field to score Covert and give the Saints an early 1-0 lead. Klotz came in to score on a
Dalton Schumer fielder's choice to stake the Saints to a 2-0 lead. Maryville added an insurance run in the fourth as
Camdon Mercier singled up the middle and advanced to second base on a wild pitch. After a ground out, Covert drove in Mercier with a single to right field to give the Saints a 3-0 advantage. The Hawks cracked the scoreboard in the top of the eighth inning with a pair runs to cut the Saints lead to 3-2, but Maryville extended the lead in the home half of the inning. Zach Ruckman opened the inning with a single up the middle and moved to second on a sacrifice bunt. Ruckman then stole third base and scored on a
Connor Markel single to give the Saints a 4-2 lead.
Alec Harris came on to earn his second save of the year with a spotless ninth inning to give the Saints the win.
Dean earned his fifth win of the season with a three-hitter over six innings worked while striking out four Hawk batters on the day. Covert and Mercier paced the Saints at the plate by going 2-for-3 with each scoring a run.
The Saints opened the back end of the doubleheader by taking an early 1-0 lead as Covert drew a walk to start the inning off and scored as Niemerg drilled a double off the wall in left center to give Maryville the advantage. The Saints then took advantage of four walks and a Mercier single to right field to take control of the contest at 4-0. The Saints extended the lead to 5-0 as
Garrett Taylor drew the fifth free pass of the inning to score #Tyler Catlett# from third.
Quincy battled all the way back as the Hawks scored a run in the third inning and used five hits, including a pair of home runs, to score five time in the fourth inning to take a 6-5 lead. Maryville answered right back in the bottom of the fourth as Covert drilled his sixth homer of the year off the top of the right field fence to tie the game at 6-6. The bats continued to be hot for the Saints in the inning as NIemerg smashed a double down the right field line to move Klotz, who was hit by a pitch, over to third base. Carriger then smashed a three-run home run over the right field wall. The smash was his 11
th home run of the year which put the Saints out in front, 9-6.
The Hawks bounced back and plated a run in the fifth inning to cut the Maryville lead to 9-7, but Harris came in to earn his third save of the year in giving up three hits over the last two innings for the Saints as they improved to 22-18 on the season and 9-9 in GLVC action. The 22 wins for the Saints ties the record for most wins in a season in the Division II era.
Zach Morrisey earned his first win of the season with an inning of work in relief while Covert and Niemerg were 2-for-3 at the plate with a run batted in and a pair of runs scored while Carriger added three RBI's in the win.
The two teams will wrap up their four-game series tomorrow with a doubleheader set to begin at noon at Weber Field.
