Quincy’s Offense Erupts in 10-Run First, Rows Over Burlington
Quincy, IL – The Doggy Paddlers looked to start the second half of the season on the right foot—and they did just that, run-ruling the Burlington Bees 18-8 in eight innings.
Quincy jumped out to a big lead early, but Burlington kept chipping away, refusing to go down quietly. The Paddlers gave the start to Hayden Steelman, while the Bees countered with Alex Logan.
Steelman set the tone early with a clean 1-2-3 inning in the top of the first. Then Quincy went to work at the plate. The Paddlers exploded for 10 runs in the bottom half, knocking Logan out of the game. Brady Kindhart drove in three runs across two at-bats, and Culver-Stockton’s Kannon Kirk made his season debut with an RBI triple. Burlington turned to Raul Gil, who surrendered the 10th run—also charged to Logan.
Steelman had to battle through the second. A pair of defensive errors didn’t help, but the Paddlers escaped the inning allowing just three runs. Quincy’s offense went quiet in the bottom of the second.
Steelman bounced back by retiring the side in order in the third, striking out one and inducing a pair of groundouts. Jimmy Koza led off the bottom of the inning with a walk, setting up Tommy Harrison to blast a two-run homer to center field, stretching the lead to 12-3.
Burlington responded with three runs in the fourth to cut the lead to 12-6, then added another in the fifth to make it 12-7. Quincy turned to the bullpen and brought in Brady Lowe, who closed out the frame. In the bottom half, Kirk came through again with an RBI single, scoring Wandel Campana to push the lead to 13-7.
The Bees added one more in the sixth, but Quincy’s bats weren’t done. Kindhart, Krew Bond, and Campana each drove in runs as the Paddlers plated four, making it 17-8—just one run shy of a mercy rule win.
Both teams went scoreless in the seventh. Jordan Syfindillis entered in the eighth and, with help from his defense, held Burlington off the board to give the Paddlers a chance to walk it off.
Kindhart got things going with a double, and a pair of walks to Campana and Kirk loaded the bases with two outs. Jameson Johnson came through with a double to left-center, scoring Kindhart and ending the game via mercy rule.
The Doggy Paddlers improve to 2-1 in the second half. They will go on a 3 game road skid taking on the Illinois Valley Pistol Shrimp Wednesday and Thursday and a stop in Springfield to take on the Luck Horseshoes on Friday. While the Bees fall to 2-1 in the second half. They will return to Burlington on Wednesday to play the Clinton LumberKings.
From the Dugout
Coach Gyorkos on starting the second half strong:
“That’s why we play a full season. We talked earlier—it’s a long baseball year. We struggled early, but we’ve been playing better. We’ve got to keep building on that. We’ve got a huge week ahead, playing five times, and we’ll need a good day tomorrow.”
On Brady Kindhart going 4-for-6 at the plate:
“It’s good, man. Everyone’s swinging the bat at a high level. Brady was seeing good pitches, took some good swings, and had a really solid two-strike approach. When you do those kinds of things, you’re going to have a good day.”
On Kannon Kirk’s debut and adding new faces in the second half:
“It’s nice. We’ve got to keep having guys step in and produce when we need them to—especially hitting with runners in scoring position. On the backside, we’ve got to pitch just a little bit better. [Burlington] still got 14 hits and 8 runs. But yeah, it was nice having Kannon in the lineup, and hopefully he gives us a spark.”
Key Stats
Burlington Bees:
- Final line: 8 R, 14 H, 3 E
- Alex Logan (L, 1-4): 0.2 IP, 7 H, 10 R (9 ER), 3 BB, 1 K
- Caleb Seibers: 4-4, 1 2B, 2 R, 2 RBI
- Mason Schwalbach: 3-4, 2 R, 1 RBI
Quincy Doggy Paddlers:
- Final line: 18 R, 16 H, 2 E
- Hayden Steelman (W, 2-2): 4.1 IP, 9 H, 7 R (5 ER), 2 BB, 2 K – 5.64 ERA
- Brady Kindhart: 4-6, 2 2B, 4 RBI, 3 R
- Tommy Harrison: 2-5, 1 HR, 4 RBI, 3 R
