Jimmies split weekend

Jamestown College’s pitching was the catalyst on Saturday, but Sunday was a different story.

The Jimmies gave up just one run in 14 innings against Midland on Saturday as JC picked up a pair of victories before things got sour on the hill on Sunday against Morningside College.

The Mustangs struck for 12 runs in the first game on Sunday and another five in the second game to deal the Jimmies back-to-back losses for only the second time this season.

JC (11-7-1) will have almost a week off before returning to action Saturday on the road against Dakota State.

“We beat ourselves all day,” said JC coach Tom Hager. “We’re going to need to erase this from our memory and come out and play better next week against Dakota State.”

Saturday’s games JC 7, Midland 0

JC junior pitcher Adam Ranger didn’t have much of a lead to work with until Spencer Flaten’s grand slam in the fourth inning to give the Jimmies a 5-0 lead.

For Ranger, however, the one-run cushion he got in the second inning would have been plenty.

The Jimmie right-hander threw a complete-game four-hit shutout to lift the Jimmies to a 7-0 victory to open Saturday’s slate of games.

Ranger struck out five and walked just one. The Naches, Wash. native didn’t allow multiple hits in an inning until the sixth inning, and Midland was still unable to push anything across.

“Ranger was very good from beginning to end,” said Hager.

Flaten led the way offensively for the Jimmies going 2-for-4 with four RBIs, all coming off one swing of the bat in the fourth inning.

“Flaten really opened things up for us,” Hager said. “That allowed us to relax.”

Perry Wilkinson drove in a pair of runs after going 2-for-3 from the plate and Nico Moreno went 1-for-3 with an RBI.

Max Boe went 2-for-3 for the Jimmies and scored three runs.

Midland had just four players with one hit and starter Zach Duncan, who was saddled with the loss, went just 4 2/3 innings before being relieved by Derek Ruiz.

JC 4, Midland 1

The Jimmies’ solid pitching carried over into Saturday’s nightcap when Ben Watkins went the complete game allowing just one run on three hits to give JC the win.

The LaMoure native had some trouble finding the strike zone, walking five batters over seven innings, but he was still able to keep Midland scoreless after the first inning.

Midland scored in the first after a wild pitch and the score stayed 1-0 until the top of the sixth when the Jimmies used another four-run inning to bury Midland and win 4-1.

“We were able to come up with some big hits when we needed them,” Hager said. “Watkins was able to minimize the damage and then kind of settled in the rest of the way.”

The rally started off an error when Flaten reached on a miscue by the shortstop that allowed Joe Perez to score from third. Mitch Stevens then singled in a run with the bases loaded and Kyle Mallory made it 3-1 when he grounded into a double play.

Boe drove in the fourth run with a single and Watkins did the rest.

Midland had just one hit in the final two innings.

Sunday’s game Morningside 12, JC 5

The Mustangs did most of their work in the first inning and the Jimmies were never able to recover as Morningside took Sunday’s opener 12-5.

Morningside struck for eight runs in the opening frame with the help of a three-run round-tripper from Josh Gross, but two fielding errors didn’t make things any easier as the Mustangs opened up with an early 8-1 lead.

“From the very first pitch we beat ourselves,” Hager said. “Morningside is a very good baseball team and I give them credit for making us pay for our mistakes, but we played very poorly and we’re going to have to play better in the future.”

Morningside built on its lead with three more runs in the fourth before the Jimmies were able to make any type of an offensive push.

Three of the Jimmies’ runs came off the bat of Boe, who finished 2-for-2 for three RBIs.

Wesley Harding was tagged with the loss after failing to complete three innings.

John Bothwell was the winning pitcher after giving up three runs on five hits over five innings.

Morningside 5, JC 4

Morningside College’s John Sorenson registered just one at-bat for the Mustangs, but he made it count.

The sophomore, after pitching two innings of relief in the opener, turned his focus to batting and delivered a solo home run in the bottom of the sixth to lift the Mustangs to a 5-4 victory to round out Sunday’s doubleheader.

The Jimmies’ offensive woes continued despite being able to plate four runs. JC was held to just four hits, and only one in the final two innings.

“We didn’t’ capitalize with runners in scoring position,” said Hager of the Jimmies’ offensive output on Sunday.

Zach Mendiola was the lone Jimmie to record multiple hits by going 2-for-3 with two RBIs. Moreno drove in another run for the Jimmies on a sacrifice fly in the third.

Paul Roers started on the hill for JC and went 4 1/3 innings before Blake Stewart closed out the game. Roers allowed four runs, one earned, on three hits and six strikeouts. Stewart, who suffered the loss, gave up one run on three hits.

“Roers gave us a very nice outing but he really hurt himself with a throwing error,” Hager said. “We threw the ball around when they were stealing bases, which is very atypical for (catcher) Joe Perez.”

Alex Groth got the victory for the Mustangs after pitching 1 1/3 shutout innings of relief.

Saturday’s games

Jamestown College 7, Midland 0

JC 010 411 0 — 7 9 2

Midland 000 000 0 — 0 4 2

Adam Ranger and Joe Perez. Zach Duncan, Derek Ruiz (5), Braxton Arndt (7) and Sean Ursendowski. W—Ranger. L—Duncan. 2B—J, Perez; HR—J, Spencer Flaten.

Jamestown College 4, Midland 1

JC 000 004 0 — 4 6 0

Midland 100 000 0 — 1 3 2

Ben Watkins and Joe Perez. Dillon Stockton and Erik Christensen. W—Watkins. L—Stockton.

Sunday’s games

Morningside College 12, Jamestown College 5

JC 100 202 0 — 5 6 4

MC 803 010 X — 12 13 1

Wesley Harding, Zach Thompson (3) and Zach Mendiola, Nathan Christiuk (5). John Bothwell, John Sorenson (6) and Brendan McCabe. W—Bothwell. L—Harding. 2B—M, A.J. Staiert. HR—Sorenson.

Morningside College 5, Jamestown College 4

JC 002 200 0 — 4 4 3

MC 202 001 X — 5 6 0

Paul Roers, Blake Stewart (5), Zach Mendiola. John Russell, Bobby Lee (4), Alex Groth (5), Jordan Mouw (7) and Adison Gillett. W—Groth. L—Stewart. S—Mouw. 2B—J, Mediola. HR—M, John Sorenson.

Tags: sports, jimmies, baseball