Two losses against top teams

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Thursday was measuring-stick day for the Jamestown College baseball team.

Despite a pair of losses, the Jimmies measured up quite nicely.

Playing two strong teams, one of them ranked, both with nearly three times as many games played this season, the Jimmies fell to Wayland Baptist 4-3 and 16th-ranked Lubbock Christian 10-2, both out of Texas, in Tucson, Ariz.

“When you put it in perspective, you’re talking about 2-3 innings where we did not play very good baseball, other than that we showed we can compete with teams who have a lot of games under their belts and that are very talented,” JC coach Tom Hager said. “That’s what we got across to our team tonight.

“We hit a lot of balls hard today and made a lot of quality pitches, but we made a few defensive mistakes and a couple of baserunning miscues and that was the difference.”

The Jimmies (7-6) play two against Grand View of Iowa today, the preseason favorite in the Midwest Collegiate Conference.

Wayland Baptist 4, JC 3

Despite the loss in the opener, Kacy Gardiner gave the Jimmies a strong start.

The hard-throwing right-hander went the distance on the mound, allowing just two earned runs over eight strong innings. Gardiner allowed just six hits and struck out a pair.

“Kacy had great stuff today,” Hager said. “He gave us a very good chance to beat a good team.”

The Jimmies didn’t get anything until striking for three in the top of the eighth, highlighted by Jonathan Minchella’s 2-run single. Minchella finished 3-for-4 in the game as the Jimmies outhit Wayland Baptist 9-6. Matt Achter added two hits and scored a run.

LCU 10, JC 2

The Jimmies hung around with 16th-ranked Lubbock Christian early.

The Jimmies trailed 4-2 after six innings, but the Chaps (21-4) scored six in the bottom of the seventh inning to ice it.

Blake Stewart blanked LCU through three innings and left with a 1-0 lead.

“Blake threw the ball very well against a quality team,” Hager said.

The Jimmies trailed just 4-2 entering the seventh inning.

The top four hitters in the JC lineup accounted for nine of its 11 hits.

Leadoff man Nolan Skowronek went 3-for-5. Achter had two more hits, while Nico Moreno and Mitch Stevens were each 2-for-4 with an RBI.

The Jimmies committed three errors on the day, leading to five unearned runs.

“This team has the potential to be very good, but when you’re playing quality opponents you have to play at a high level and eliminate mistakes. That’s something we have to get better at,” Hager said.

Wayland Baptist University 4, Jamestown College 3

JC 000 000 030 — 3 9 2

WB 000 102 10x — 4 6 2

Kacy Gardiner and Nathan Christiuk, Ryan Abel (7). Mason Taylor, Logan Evans (2), Paxton Bartley (6), Michael Cowan (8) and Lorenzo Soriano. W—Evans. L—Gardiner (0-1). Save—Cowan. 2B—JC, Jakob Ohmann. WB, Johnny Hendrixson. SB—JC, Spencer Flaten, Nico Moreno, Jonathan Minchella.

Lubbock Christian 10, Jamestown College 2

JC 100 001 000 — 2 11 1

LCU 000 022 60x — 10 15 0

Blake Stewart, Kyle McKay (4), Ben Mortenson (6), Chris Combo (7), Gaige Dunn (8) and Ryan Abel. Derek Loera, Hunter Flake (8), Sam Fry (9) and Jason Fisch. W—Loera. L—McKay (0-1). 2B—JC, Nolan Skowronek, Nico Moreno, Mitch Stevens. LCU, Silva. 3B—LCU, Leslie. SB—LCU, Lutz, Bownds.

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

Tags: sports, news, jimmies, baseball