Paul D’Alessio decided he needed to fuel the Quincy University baseball team with some Italian power this week. So Tuesday, he assembled the kind of feast a loving nonna would serve to her family at Sunday dinner. Pasta, meatballs, sausage, chicken cacciatore, etc. It was the kind of meal where you wipe the marinara off your chin and push yourself away from the table with a full belly.

“We ate good,” said D’Alessio’s son, Hawks leadoff hitter Gino D’Alessio. “Fuel for the weekend.” The way the Hawks hit the ball Thursday, Papa D’Alessio better plan on cooking again soon. Top-seeded Quincy erased a 6-0 second-inning deficit in its opening game of the NCAA Division II Midwest Regional by belting seven home runs — three by D’Alessio — and sending fourth-seeded Wayne State packing after the first day with an 18-8 victory at QU Stadium.