Shaky start to trip for Jimmies

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Pitching and defense had propelled the Jimmie baseball team to a 4-1 start.

Sunday, Jamestown College had a rough day on both accounts and it led to an 0-2 start to its spring trip in Tucson, Ariz.

The Jimmies committed five errors and gave up 22 runs to Arizona Christian University and were swept 9-6 and 13-6.

“Arizona Christian played good baseball and we didn’t play well,” said JC coach Tom Hager. “All in all this was not a good day for Jimmie baseball.”

The Jimmies had 15 hits combined in the twinbill, but gave up nearly double that (27).

“Give them credit. They battled in a lot of 2-strike at bats and put the ball in play, and we couldn’t make pitches nor get the outs when we needed to,” Hager said.

Arizona Christian was playing its 24th and 25th games of the season, 18 more than the Jimmies. The Firestorm has won seven straight.

“Again, we feel like they’re a good team, but a team we feel like we can beat, but unfortunately we didn’t play nearly well enough to beat them,” Hager said.

The Jimmies (4-3) play Dordt College of Iowa today. The Defenders have yet to play this season.

ACU 9, JC 6

Adam Ranger started with two scoreless innings on the mound in the opener for the Jimmies, but the Firestorm hung five runs on the board in the top of the third and never trailed.

The Jimmies cut the gap to 7-6 with two in the third, three in the fourth and one in the sixth, but couldn’t complete the comeback.

Hot-hitting Matt Achter of Fargo went 3-for-4 with two RBIs and a triple. Mitch Stevens also tripled and had two RBIs.

Ranger allowed seven runs, but only five were earned.

ACU 13, JC 6

The Jimmies jumped out to a 5-1 lead after 3 1/2 innings, but it unraveled from there as the Firestorm scored 12 of the last 13 runs of the game.

“We had it rolling pretty good, but we couldn’t make a key pitch or make the plays to get the job done,” Hager said.

Freshman Andy Young went 2-for-4 with a double and RBI. Spencer Flaten, a West Fargo product like Young, also went 2-for-4. Young and Flaten hit 5-6 in the JC lineup.

“We did some things well today. We had some guys swing the bats pretty well, but clearly we didn’t do enough well to put ourselves in position to get a win or two,” Hager said.

Darren Iseri struggled on the mound. The junior from Lake Stevens, Wash., had not allowed a run in eight innings coming into the game, but was tagged for nine runs in 4 2/3 innings.

At Tucson, Ariz.

Arizona Christian 9, Jamestown College 6

ACU 005 020 2 — 9 13 4

JC 000 231 0 — 6 6 3

Adam Ranger, Christian Hackworth (6), Nick Smart (7) and Ryan Abel. Stephen Thompson, Jackson (6), Sam Moore. W—Thompson. L—Ranger (1-1). Save—Moore. 2B—AC, Russell 2, Creecy, Santor. 3B—Matt Achter, Mitch Stevens. HR—AC, Neely.

Arizona Christian 13, Jamestown College 6

JC 004 100 1 — 6 9 2

ACU 001 354 x — 13 14 1

Darren Iseri, Kacy Gardiner (5), Ryan Vernon (6), Gaige Dunn (6) and Nathan Christiuk. Tripp, Collinge (6) and Sears. W—Tripp. L—Iseri (1-1). 2B—JC, Andy Young. AC, Konopka 2, Bregante, Enriquez, Osborne. 3B—AC, Sears.

Sun sports editor Dave Selvig can be reached at (701) 952-8460 or by e-mail at dselvig@jamestownsun.com

Tags: college sports, sports, jimmies, baseball