Jimmies baseball sweep Briar Cliff in "home" doubleheader

SIOUX CITY, Iowa — The University of Jamestown opened its 2023 home season at Briar Cliff University due to the weather. Despite the weird circumstances, the Jimmies mounted a late comeback to get a 4-3 win over the Chargers on Sunday, April 2, at the Chargers’ Bishop Mueller Field.

“We were in the visiting dugout and we took batting practice and infield second just like we would on the road but on the scoreboard, we were the home team,” Jimmies head coach Tom Hager said. “I think that gave us a little bit more feeling of normalcy so it just felt like a normal game on the road and we’ve been playing well on the road. But our scoreboard said we were the home team.”

The Chargers took a 3-0 lead into the bottom of the sixth inning where the Jimmies’ Hayden Brown came up and hit an RBI single to cut the deficit to 3-1. The Jimmies added two more in the inning to tie it up at three. The score stayed that way until the Jimmies took advantage of two game-changing errors in the bottom of the seventh. The Jimmies’ Kendall Yackley reached on an error to lead off the inning and then a few batters later Ryan Muizelaar came in as a pinch hitter and reached on an error which allowed Yackley to score to give the Jimmies the 4-3 walk-off win.

“I think it comes down to continuing to have good at-bats,” Hager said. “If one guy can get on another guy can piggyback off that. We can move runners over, we can steal bases then it sets the table for someone else to put the ball in play and score a run. Today we had a perfect example of that, at the end of game one we got some guys on, we ran the bases and we were lucky enough to capitalize on a mistake they made.”

The Jimmies turned to Hayden Brown in the seventh who shut the door, striking out all three batters that he faced.

BCU 3,  UJ 4

BCU: 0 0 0 1 1 1 0–3 7 2

UJ: 0 0 0 0 0 3 1–4 4 2

WP: Hayden Brown (1-2)  LP: Kyler Steinborn (3-4)

Scoring plays:

Fourth inning:

BCU: Jake Allen RBI double, Quentin Evers scores

Fifth inning:

BCU: Jared Sitzmann RBI single, Matthew Hmielewski scores

Sixth inning:

BCU: Hmielewski sacrifice fly, Jake Chronic scores

UJ: Hayden Brown RBI single, Triston Madison scores

UJ: Chase Burke RBI groundout, Troy Berg scores

UJ: Payton Smith RBI single, Ben Patton scores

Seventh inning:

UJ: Ryan Muizelaar reaches on an error, Kendall Yackley scores, unearned

The Jimmies used a Jordan Singleton grand slam in the bottom of the eighth to get a 7-1 win in game two over the Chargers.

The Chargers (12-14) had a chance to blow the game open in the fourth inning as they loaded the bases with two outs, drawing a Jimmies mound visit. After the mound visit, the Jimmies’ Elias Harris was able to work out of trouble getting Easton Cone to strike out and keep the game scoreless.

“It just came down to we gotta make the next pitch and it’s about, don’t get too caught up in the moment just make the next pitch, and he did exactly that,” Hager said. “(I am) really proud of him.”

The Jimmies (17-11) opened the scoring in the fifth when Xander Orejudos hit a single to score Alex Alva and make it 1-0. The Chargers immediately responded by loading the bases and then Cone got hit by a pitch to force in a run and tie the game up.

The score stayed that way until the eighth when Yackley led off the inning with an infield single before Orejudos laid down a perfect bunt and then Triston Madison reached on a fielder’s choice. That set up Jordan Singleton to line a grand slam to right field to push the Jimmies in front 5-1. The Jimmies added two more in the inning to take a 7-1 lead.

The Jimmies are scheduled to return to the diamond at 2 p.m. on Friday, April 7, when they host Doane University.

BCU 1, UJ 7

BCU: 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0–1 6 1

UJ: 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 7 X–7 11 1

WP: Cade Torgerson (1-0) LP: Austin Carter (0-1)

Scoring plays:

Fifth inning:

UJ: Xander Orejudos RBI single, Alex Alva scores

Sixth inning:

BCU: Easton Cone RBI hit by pitch, Brayden Artzer scores, unearned

Eighth inning:

UJ: Jordan Singleton grand slam, Isaiah Roebuck, Orejudos, Yackley score

UJ: Brown scores on a wild pitch, unearned

UJ: Payton Smith sacrifice fly, Burke scores