Solid pitching from Tabeling helps Gems overcome lightning delay in home victory

QUINCY — Logan Tabeling pitched 5⅔ innings of one-run baseball, and the Quincy Gems overcame a 50-minute lightning delay before the seventh inning to defeat the Springfield Sliders 6-2 on Wednesday night in a Prospect League game at QU Stadium.

Tabeling allowed an RBI single to Hunter Phelps in the fourth inning but was in charge throughout his outing. He struck out seven and allowed just three hits. After Tyler Carpenter recorded the last out in the sixth inning, Andrew Fay came in to pitch the final three innings. He allowed just one hit and one run to earn the save.

The Gems scored in the bottom of the first when Matt Schark hit a two-run homer. Schark is tied for third place in the Prospect League with 11 home runs, and he’s second in the league with 40 RBIs.

Sliders pitcher John Dunham limited the Gems to one hit over the next four innings. In the sixth, Schark drew a one-out walk, moved to second on a wild pitch, moved to third on Danny Sperling’s single and scored on Jackson Galloway’s sacrifice fly.

After the lightning delay, Quincy scored three times in the seventh. Gino D’Alessio drove in two runs with a double, and he scored from second base on Nick Iannantone’s groundout to first base.

The Gems (17-17, 4-3 second half) fell a half-game out of first place in the Great River Division of the West Conference after Normal swept a doubleheader from Alton on Wednesday.