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Published: 8/3/2012 | Updated: 6/17/2013
By BLAKE TOPPMEYER
Herald-Whig Sports Writer
Nick Day's excitement soared when he saw Quincy Gems third-base coach Cody Anderson wave Drew Carlile around third and on home. That cleared up third base for Day, who slid in safely for a triple during the fifth inning of Quincy's 19-1 win over the Dubois County Bombers on Thursday at QU-Stadium. Two runs scored on the triple, giving Day seven RBI for the game. More importantly, it was the last phase in the first cycle of Day's career and what is believed to be the first cycle in the Gems' 17-year history. "I knew I hit it really good, and as I was getting close to second, I was hoping (Anderson) would send (Carlile), so I could go," said Day, who needed just four at-bats to get the cycle. "Off the bat, I thought I'd have a chance." Day doubled home a run in Quincy's five-run second inning, singled home a run in the third and hit a three-run home run as part of Quincy's eight-run fourth inning. That left the triple, considered the hardest leg of the cycle. Day hit a line drive over Austin Nyman's head in center field. Day was aware that he needed just the triple for the cycle, and after he slid into third, he popped up and clapped his hands in celebration. "I said to someone in the dugout (before the at-bat), â I'm not going to stop at second base,'" Day said. Day's cycle came as part of a historic night for Quincy (32-24, 14-12 in the second half). The Gems' 19 runs tied for their second highest single-game scoring output in the organization's history. The Gems beat the Springfield Rifles 19-2 during Central Illinois Collegiate League play on July 29, 1998. That mark was topped when Quincy defeated the Hannibal Cavemen 22-8 in Prospect League action on June 30, 2011. The Gems also tied for their largest margin of victory in team history, matching their 18-0 CICL win over the Twin City Stars on June 26, 1998. In the seventh inning, Gems outfielder David Kuhne was hit by a pitch for the 18th time this season, breaking the Gems' single-season hit-by-pitch record of 17 that Jay Molina set in 2005. Every Gems starter had at least one hit, and Quincy totaled 19 hits, 11 of which went for extra bases. Quincy's Greg Allen and Matt Munoz each collected three hits to come in behind Day's four hits. The offensive outburst came a night after the Gems were eliminated from playoff contention. It was clear, however, that no one was ready to throw in the towel. "We're out of the playoff race, but we have these last four or five games, and we need to make the best of it," Allen said. "So I think we played a little looser and had a little fun out there." Did they ever. During the early innings of the game, each Gem had some fun upon before entering the batter's box. The first batter of the inning would perform an action -- such as twirling his batting helmet -- before stepping into the batter's box. The following batter would have to do the action the preceding batter did, and then add something new of their own. The string of actions would build with each batter. During the fourth inning, when Quincy sent 12 batters to the plate, the string of pre-at-bat charades grew fairly lengthy before ultimately subsiding. "That was something we've been planning on doing," Allen said. "We were going to try to do it earlier in the season, but it just didn't work out. After (Wednesday's) game, we just figured, why not today? We had nothing to lose. I think it helped loosen everybody up. We had a lot more smiles at the plate." Gems starter Cody Woodhouse limited Dubois County (33-23, 13-14) to one run and eight hits over eight innings, improving his record to 5-2. Woodhouse struck out six and walked three. "When the offense is producing runs like this, it makes it a whole lot easier for me to pitch," Woodhouse said. "Coming into today, I was really relaxed on everything, and every one of my pitches were going great today. My slider felt the best today. And since we were up by so much, I went ahead and started throwing my curve ball. I don't really get much work in with that, but I'm good of proud of what it was doing today." Woodhouse leads the Gems with 59 1/3 innings pitched, and he threw 111 pitches Thursday, before giving way to outfielder Zac Zdanowicz, who pitched the ninth. "Woody has been a workhorse for us all season," Allen said. "He's had his ups and downs, but tonight, to be able to come out in his last outing and be able to go eight strong and only give up one run, you can't ask for much more than that." -- btoppmeyer@whig.com/221-3367
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