Reinhardt shines in debut as Gems increase lead in Great River Division to 2 1/2 games

BURLINGTON, Iowa — Philip Reinhardt, a freshman pitcher from Maryville University, shined in his Quincy Gems debut, allowing one run over six innings in an 8-4 victory over the Burlington Bees in a Prospect League game at Community Field on Sunday afternoon.

The Gems (23-20, 10-6 second half) now have a 2 1/2-game lead over Clinton (8-9) for first place in the Great River Division of the West Conference. Burlington (7-9) and Normal (8-10) are three games out of first place. Only Lafayette (14-2) has won more games in the second half of the season than Quincy.

Reinhardt allowed six hits and walked two to earn the victory.

Bees starter Garrett Moltzan recorded just one out before the Gems knocked him out of the game with five runs in the first inning. An error led to the first two runs of the game. Matt Schark had an RBI double, Andrew Fay had a sacrifice fly and Jayce Maag delivered an RBI single. 

Quincy added a single run in the second on Alex Wattermann’s RBI single. The Gems added two more runs in the eighth on Jake Skrine’s RBI groundout and another RBI single by Schark.

Tyler Clark-Chiapparelli had three hits and drew two walks for the Gems.

Schark’s two RBIs gives him 57 this season to lead the Prospect League. Burlington’s Jackson Jones is in second place with 46. The Prospect League record is 66 RBIs, set in 2012 by Matthew Tellor of Springfield and Giancarlo Brugnoni of Chillicothe.

The Gems play nine games over the next seven days, with doubleheaders set for Wednesday and Thursday at QU Stadium.