Carrington takes two from Blues

The Jamestown Sun

Carrington swept a pair of games from the Jamestown Blues in a Section 7 tilt on Tuesday at Jack Brown Stadium.

In the opener, Carrington took full advantage of two hits in winning the opening game 5-1. A pair of home runs highlighted a rain-shortened 8-1 Carrington victory in the nightcap.

The Blues are in action on July 17 when they travel to Maddock following a host of changes to their schedule. The games July 11 and 16 have been cancelled, as has the Blues' showdown with Napoleon on July 20. The July 23 game against the Black Sox will now be played in New Rockford while on July 30 Jamestown will travel to Mandan.

For Post 14, the July 14 game against the Governors is now being played in Bismarck while the location for the pair of dates against Fargo has been switched. On July 24 Post 14 will host Fargo and on July 27 Jamestown will travel. The July 30 game against Bismarck has been scratched in favor of a doubleheader in Valley City on July 31.

Carrington 5, Blues 1

Looking at Carrington's game totals, the recipe for a Jamestown victory was there.

The Blues limited Carrington to a pair of hits, while getting five of their own, and Carrington committed three errors to Jamestown's one. But six walks in the opening two innings from Jamestown starter Tim Smith contributed to five runs and Carrington claimed the all-important opening section game.

"In the first game, we gave away too many free bases," said Blues coach Jim Klemann. "That ended up being the difference. The runs they scored we gave them."

Carrington made Smith pay for walking the bases full to open the game, as Jamestown found itself down 3-0 before coming to bat for the first time despite relinquishing just one hit.

Opposing starter Bryan Christianson helped his own cause with a run-scoring fielder's choice in the top of the first while Dusty Lyman followed with an RBI single and Nic Bata scored from third on Lyman's steal attempt of second base.

In the second inning, Carrington tacked on a pair of runs without the benefit of a hit and after Smith plunked Christianson to lead off the third inning he was pulled in favor of Jordan Piatz.

Put in a hole early, Piatz closed the door on any more offense as Carrington notch just one hit off him in five innings of scoreless relief.

"Jordan Piatz gave us a chance to stay in the game," said Klemann.

Piatz also proved his worth with the bat, breaking Jamestown into the scoring column by plating Colin Hillius in the bottom of the third, but from there the Blues failed to find any more timely hits. From the fourth to the seventh innings Jamestown would strand a total of eight runners, leaving the bases loaded in the fourth and fifth innings.

"We left too many guys on the bases and gave up too many scoring opportunities," Klemann said. "It is hard to win games when you aren't scoring runs."

Christianson pitched all seven innings for Carrington, striking out five while relinquishing three walks for the win.

Piatz finished 2-for-3 with a pair of stolen bases for the Blues.

Carrington 8, Blues 1 (4 inn.)

Carrington surpassed its hit output from the opener in the first inning as Christianson followed up Bata's RBI double to right with a two-run home run to left for an early 3-0 lead.

Ben Walker's looping single just inside the foul line behind third touched down to score Piatz in the bottom of the third inning and make a 4-1 game.

But when the clouds opened up with a small rain burst in the top of the fourth, Carrington kicked in four runs, highlighted by Bata's three-run shot over the right-field fence for an 8-1 advantage.

The rain continued through the bottom of the fourth inning and after Josh Simonsen singled to lead off the top of the fifth the game was called due to the condition of the pitcher's mound.

Bata finished the game 3-for-3, driving in four RBI and scoring three times while Sheldon Harding doubled, had an RBI and scored a run.

Landon Zerr walked twice and stole a base for Jamestown.

Carrington 5, Blues 1

Carrington 320 000 0 -- 5 2 3

Jamestown 001 000 0 -- 1 5 1

Bryan Christainson and Dale Mehring; Tim Smith, Jordan Piatz (3) and Dakotah Walker. W--Christianson. L--Smith.

Carrington 8, Blues 1 (4 Innings)

Carrington 301 4 -- 8 7 0

Jamestown 001 0 -- 1 3 4

Josh Simonsen and Dale Mehring; Andrew Koehn and Jordan Piatz. W--Simonsen. L--Koehn. HR--Bryan Christianson (2-run in first), Nic Bata (3-run in fourth).

Sun sports writer Kalen Ost can be reached at (701) 952-8461 or by e-mail at kaleno@jamestownsun.com . His blog is at www.areavoices.com/ost .