It all came together Wednesday night for the Jamestown Elks and University of Jamestown slugger Luke Shekeryk.
But with two outs and the winning run 90 feet away in the bottom of the 10th against the Jamestown Greyhounds, the left-handed Shekeryk didn't need to take the bat off his shoulder. A 2-1 pitch from the Greyhounds' Kyle Leapaldt hit the dirt and scooted to the backstop and Dawson Weikum trotted home from third to score the walk-off run.
The Elks defeated the Greyhounds 9-8 in extras in Twilight League Amateur Baseball play at Jack Brown Stadium.
"It was kinda lining up," said Elks player/manager Boyo Quichocho. "You always talk about the right timing and we thought we had the right guys up at the right time. Fortunately for us, we didn't have to worry about getting the hit.
"But, yeah, it was kinda nice we hung in it."
ADVERTISEMENT
Shekeryk, a UJ junior transfer from Seattle, Washington, hit .421/.569/.526 with four doubles and 10 RBIs for the 18-5 Jimmies in 2020 before the college season was cut short to COVID-19. UJ wasn't afforded a home baseball game in the spring at Jack Brown.
Shekeryk went 2-for-4 with a double, walk, an RBI and a run scored.
Weikum doubled at the top of the order with one out in the 10th and moved to third on a flyout to right off the bat of Carson Klompein. The Elks were dead in the water entering the ninth, trailing 8-2 before scoring six runs on five hits and three of the Greyhounds' four errors on the night.
The Hounds' manager/player Danny Fischer came on in relief to pitch the ninth with what seemed like an insurmountable six-run lead. But Quichocho reached on an error to start, Matt Meraz, Shekeryk and Jared Bentley all later doubled and the comeback was on. Weikum, Klompein, Shekeryk, Dillon Dudley and Bentley all drove in a run as the Elks sent 10 batters to the plate in the ninth.
But in the middle of a global pandemic, Fischer kept Wednesday's amateur baseball real.
"That's baseball," Fischer said following the hard-luck finish. "We're just out here having fun."
ADVERTISEMENT
The Greyhounds did all their damage off Elks' starter Bryan Santiago over the game's first two innings. The Hounds racked up all eight of their runs on six hits, four walks, two errors, and a hit batter through two frames against the UJ arm from Corpus Christi, Texas.
"We had a starter who was having a hard time finding the zone, he knew it," Quichocho said. "He made a few adjustments towards the last part of his outing. But it's tough to focus when you give up eight right away."
The Greyhounds received two strong innings to start from former Jamestown Blue Jay all-stater Nolan Kratz, who allowed one run and struck out a pair. Former baseball and football player at Valley City State University, Jamestown's Tyler Ukestad, had himself a game.
Ukestad made a sliding catch in foul territory playing left to record the first out of the Elks' half of inning No. 1, pitched four innings of one-run baseball from the third through the sixth, and batted 2-for-5 with a run scored, an RBI and a stolen base. Leapaldt tossed the seventh, eighth and 10th for the Hounds.
"He had a really good day," Fischer said of Ukestad. "It was nice seeing him back on the mound."
Lincoln Trujillo, another middle-of-the-order bat for UJ baseball and its head coach Tom Hager, went 2-for-4 with a walk, run and an RBI in the losing effort. Brady Anderson (2-for-5) also had a pair of hits for the 3-2 Hounds.
ADVERTISEMENT
The Elks' Ben Friebel, Ryan Iliff and Trey Evans teamed up on the mound to hold the Hounds off the board after the second. Evans tossed the final four frames to earn the win, allowing just a pair of hits, no walks and striking out two.
The Elks improved to 6-1.
"We always preach it's a long game," Quichocho said. "I think we all just kinda hung in there and tried to hold them as much as we could the middle innings. That ended up going well for us on defense."
Amateur baseball continues this Sunday at Jack Brown Stadium. The Greyhounds host the Carrington Merchants in a pair of games beginning at 1 p.m., while the Elks will play Tolna at 5 p.m.
"We always try to say we always have a chance and it ended up going our way the last inning," Quichocho said.
Jamestown Elks 9, Jamestown Greyhounds 8 (10 inn.)
Hounds 530 000 000 0 -- 8 10 4
Elks 100 001 006 1 -- 9 15 3
ADVERTISEMENT
Nolan Kratz, Tyler Ukestad (3), Kyle Leapaldt (7), Danny Fischer (9), Leapaldt (10) and Braxton Hewitt. Bryan Santiago, Ben Friebel (3), Ryan Iliff (5), Trey Evans (7) and Marcus Blackmon. W--Evans. L--Leapaldt.
Highlights: Hounds, Kratz 2 IP, 1 R, 2 SO, 3 H, 2 BB; 1-4, RBI; Ukestad 4 IP, 3 SO, 4 H, 1 R, 1 BB, 2-5, RBI, R, SB; Leapaldt 3 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 SO, 1-5, R; Fischer 5 H, 6 R; Brady Anderson 2-5, 2B, R, RBI; Lincoln Trujillo 2-4, BB, RBI, R; Hewitt 0-2, 3 BB, 2 R.
Highlights: Elks, Santiago 2 IP, 8 R, 6 H, 4 BB; Friebel 2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 SO, 1 BB; Iliff 2 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB; Evans 4 IP, 2 H, 0 BB, 2 SO; Chase Hacker 3-5, 2 R, SB; Jared Bentley 3-4, 2B, RBI, BB; Luke Shekeryk 2-4, 2B, RBI, R, SB, BB; Carson Klompein 2-6, RBI, 2 R, SB; Dawson Weikum 1-6, 2B, R, RBI; Matt Meraz 2-5, 2B, R; Boya Quichocho 1-4, R.
Records: Jamestown Elks 6-1. Jamestown Greyhounds 3-2.
