Jimmies swept in baseball doubleheader at Concordia

SEWARD, Neb. — The first game of the doubleheader between the University of Jamestown and Concordia University (Neb.) was a tight back-and-forth game with the Bulldogs walking it off in a 7-6 win on Monday, Feb. 20, at Concordia’s Plum Creek Park.

“I thought that in game one that was a heck of a college baseball game and unfortunately we came up on the short end,” Jimmies head coach Tom Hager said. “We had some chances late in the game to break the game open and we just couldn’t do it. They hung around long enough to score a run when they needed to.”

The Jimmies opened the scoring in the second when Kendall Yackley hit an RBI single to make it 1-0. The Jimmies stretched the lead out in the next frame thanks to a Triston Madison two-run shot to push the lead out to 3-0. It didn’t take long for the Bulldogs to fight back into it as in the bottom of the third Joey Grabanski hit a three-run home run to tie the game up at three. The Jimmies pulled ahead again with a two-run fourth to take a 5-3 lead. Over the next three innings, the Bulldogs pulled ahead at 6-5. The Jimmies had some life in the top of the seventh as they loaded the bases for Hayden Brown who reached on an RBI fielder’s choice to score Xander Orejudos and tie the game up at 6.

Brown could not help himself out on the mound in the bottom of the seventh as he loaded the bases and Alec Blakestad hit a walk-off single to give his team the 7-6 win.

UJ 6, CUNE 7

UJ: 0 1 2 2 0 0 1–6 9 1

CUNE: 0 0 3 1 1 1 1–7 7 1

WP: Kellen Ingram (1-0) LP: Hayden Brown (0-2)

Scoring plays:

Second inning:

UJ: Kendall Yackley RBI single, Julian Singleton scores

Third inning:

UJ: Triston Madison two run HR, Xander Orejudos scores

CUNE: Joey Grabanski 3 run HR, Jaidan Quinn, Ty Nekoliczak score

Fourth inning:

UJ: Reece McKenzie RBI single, Chase Burke scores

UJ: Orejudos grounds into a double play, Yackley scores

CUNE: Alec Blakestad scores on a wild pitch

Fifth inning:

CUNE: Quinn grounds out to Orejudos, Carlos Benavides scores

Sixth inning:

CUNE: Tanner Thompkins sacrifice fly, Zackery Day scores

Seventh inning:

UJ: Hayden Brown reaches on a fielder’s choice, Orejudos scores

CUNE: Blakestad RBI single, Nekoliczak scores

The Jimmies struggled in the second game as they only managed three hits and four total base runners in a 7-0 loss to the Bulldogs.

The Jimmies (11-9, 0-2) three hits were from Madison, Brown and Ben Patton. It is the least amount of hits the Jimmies have had in a game since they had three in a 5-1 loss to Dickinson State on Sept. 16, 2022. The furthest the Jimmies got on the basepaths in this game was to second on a second-inning double by Brown. The Bulldogs starter Frankie Cresta pitched a complete game giving up three hits and walking two while striking out 13 hitters. In the loss, the Jimmies hitters faced six full counts.

“He was able to get ahead in the count early and often,” Hager said. “He also made some great two-strike pitches. He pitched a complete game for a reason, he was able to get ahead and finish us off and that’s what really good pitchers do.”

The Bulldogs (16-8, 2-0) came out flying in the bottom of the first inning as their leadoff hitter Jaidan Quinn hit a bomb to make it 1-0. The Bulldogs kept it going in the bottom of the second as they scored three runs on four hits to make it 4-0. The Bulldogs added on in the third, scoring two runs on three hits and one Jimmies error to push the lead out to 6-0.

The Jimmies had a chance in the top of the seventh when Patton legged out a bunt single but the Bulldogs ended the game thanks to a strikeout-caught stealing double play in the next at-bat.

The Jimmies are back in action at 10:30 a.m. on Tuesday, March 21, when they take on Morningside.

UJ 0, CUNE 7

UJ: 0 0 0 0 0 0 0–0 3 2

CUNE: 1 3 2 0 0 1 X–7 12 1

WP: Frankie Cresta (3-2) LP: Elias Harris (0-1)

Scoring Plays:

First Inning:

CUNE: Jaidan Quinn solo HR

Second inning:

CUNE: Ty Nekoliczak RBI ground out, Tanner Thompkins scores

CUNE: Joey Grabanski RBI single, Teyt Johnson scores

CUNE: Jesse Garcia RBI double, Grabanski scores

Third inning:

CUNE: Jayden Adams solo HR 

CUNE: Johnson single to shortstop Yackley, Day scores on an error by Yackley, unearned

Sixth inning:

CUNE: Garcia sacrifice fly, Grabanski scores