Stilwell tosses gem: Jays win region game, BHS gets split

Jake Stillwell claims to have had minor arm troubles the past few days.

He showed no ill effects Tuesday against Bismarck High School.

The Jamestown junior fired a one-hitter and was the beneficiary of error-free baseball in a 3-0 West Region blanking of the Demons at Jack Brown Stadium.

“The past couple of days I’ve been struggling,” Stillwell said. “But I got a good warm-up and loosened up.”

Stillwell did walk five, but got out of jams in the third and sixth innings, the latter coming on a 5-4-3 double play. He struck out four in the win.

“He didn’t feel very healthy today,” Jamestown coach Cory Anderson said. “His arm felt fatigued to start with. ... He didn’t say anything about it (before the game).”

He was nonetheless effective, said Bismarck coach Matt Power.

“One thing he did extremely well was attack the strike zone,” Power said. “You’ve got to give him credit. He threw three pitches for strikes. He made us rely on one big hit, and that hit never came.”

In the way of Stillwell’s no-hitter was Bismarck’s Andrew Dill, who beat out shortstop Danny Fischer’s throw after a stab up the middle in what may have been the closest play of the game.

Jamestown’s defense was rock-solid behind Stillwell, making every routine play without so much as a bobble or drop.

“That’s how we need to play,” Anderson said. “Putting two runs up early and capitalizing on mistakes were important.”

The Blue Jays went to work right away as Fischer singled to lead off the game and eventually scored when Brady Anderson reached on error. Tyler Ukestad plated Anderson with a single to left field. Anderson added a triple in the sixth inning, scoring Landon Weiser. Cody Benson finished 3-for-3, and Jamestown stranded 10 runners on base.

Bismarck, on the other hand, couldn’t muster any offense, never getting a runner to third base. The Demons also finished the game with four errors, including two in the first inning.

“That’s baseball. It’s hitting with runners in scoring position, and it didn’t happen this game,” Power said. “We were happy to get out of the first inning with only two runs after the errors.”

Despite a good showing, Bismarck pitcher Nathan Dinga took the loss. He didn’t allow an earned run and gave up six hits in five innings of work. He walked two, plunked two and had one strikeout.

BHS 2, JHS 1

Kyler Olson outdueled Tyler Ukestad in another low-scoring game as the Demons left town with a split.

Both teams scored single runs in the second inning before the Demons got the go-ahead tally in the top of the fourth.

Olson made it stand up from there. The right-hander allowed just four hits.

Ukestad was solid for the Blue Jays, surrendering just five hits.

Joey Gebhardt singled in Stilwell for the Blue Jays only run.

Jamestown, which goes to Bismarck St. Mary’s on Friday, is 3-3 in region play and 10-6 overall.

Bismarck (4-3, 12-3) visits Turtle Mountain on Friday.

Jamestown 2, Bismarck 0

BHS 000 000 0 — 0 1

JHS 200 001 x — 3 7 0

Nathan Dinga, Josh Seibel (6) and Quinn Irey; Jake Stillwell and Joey Gebhardt. W—Stillwell; L—Dinga.

Highlights: J, Stillwell 7 IP, 0 R, H, 5 BB, 4 K, Cody Benson 3-3, Brady Anderson 1-3, 3B, RBI, Tyler Ukestad 1-3, RBI.

Bismarck 2, Jamestown 1

BHS 010 10 — 2 5 3

JHS 010 00 — 1 4 0

Kyler Olson and Quinn Irey. Tyler Ukestad and Joey Gebhardt. W—Olson. L—Irey. 2B—BHS, Parker Oswald. Tanner Hegre. JHS, Anderson.

Highlights: Ukestad 5 IP, 2 ER, 5 H. Danny Fischer 1-3, Anderson 1-3, Gebhardt 1-2 RBI.

Sun sports writer Chris Aarhus can be reached at (701) 952-8462 or by e-mail at caarhus@jamestownsun.com

Tags: sports, baseball, jays