Jamestown Eagles notch home-field victory

Jeremy Williams was looking like a vet in his second Class A Senior Babe Ruth game of the season.

The Jamestown Eagles took Monday night's opener at Jack Brown Stadium defeating the Bismarck Capitals 6-0, and later swept the Caps in a 6-1 Eagles nightcap. Jamestown improved to 13-5 overall and 12-2 in the West. The loss was the Caps' first conference loss of the season bringing the team's record to 9-2 in the West.

After a scoreless first four innings, Williams‘ veteran skills came in clutch in the bottom of the fifth.

"J-Will is an absolute athlete," Eagles head coach Sam Joseph said. "I absolutely love having J-Will on the team. He has been working his butt off to get ready to play. He's a tremendous athlete."

With two outs and runners on first and second, Williams squared up and swung for center field. The two-run double broke the seal for the Eagles as it sent Ty Monson and Nolan Nenow home. The future University of Jamestown wide receiver batted 2-for-3 and recorded three RBIs in his second game of the season.

"It is great to back," Williams said. "I've been waiting on this for a while now. It's been like eight months since I have been able to play anything at full speed. I feel like this is my identity - it's who I am. It's surreal to be back out."

Williams sustained an ACL tear during the 2019 football season. Williams' surgeon gave the Eagles' outfielder the green light to play last week. Now two games into his baseball season, the recent JHS grad and University of Jamestown football commit is putting those veteran skills to work.

But Williams wasn't the only one looking seasoned.

Mason Lunzman threw a gem in Monday's opener allowing zero runs and besting the Caps by a score of 6-0. Lunzman toed the rubber all seven innings allowing seven hits and zero runs. The soon-to-be Jamestown High School sophomore struck out five and walked zero batters.

The Eagles secured the victory with four runs in the sixth with singles from Jacoby Nold, Ty Monson, Williams and Mason Lunzman. Monson was 2-for-3 with an RBI. Monson and Williams led the Eagles in hitting. Bismarck's Josh Lardy led the Caps at the plate going 3-for-3. The Eagles had no errors in the contest.

Game No. 2 picked up right where the opener left off

The Eagles took the second game 6-1 tallying nine hits and one error. The Caps recorded three hits and had one error.

The Eagles took an early lead as Anderson scored off a hard groundball hit by second-basemen Jacoby Nold in the first inning. Anderson is slugging over .800 averaging .523 in 14 of 18 games recorded by the team. The Dickinson State University baseball commit has tallied 16 runs and 19 RBIs so far this season. The recent JHS grad has swung for a trio of triples and four doubles.

"Max is a senior and he's just doing what seniors do," Joseph said. "He's stepping up to set the tone and the young guys just kind of follow."

The younger players followed all right.

The Eagles tallied ten hits. Conner Hoyt, Monson, and Jacoby Nold each had multiple hits for the Eagles. Hoyt went 3-for-4 at the plate to lead Jamestown in hits the second game.

Hoyt got the start in game two throwing six innings and allowing zero runs on three hits. Hoyt tallied one K. Joseph said he was impressed by the effort shown by Hoyt and Lunzman on the mound.

"It was awesome," Joseph said of the team's pitching. "That's exactly what we want. Our pitchers threw to contact - Mason only threw 80 pitches and Conner only threw 70 which is good."

The Eagles will be back at Jack Brown hosting Valley City on July 7. The doubleheader is slated to start at 5:30 p.m.

"We're a force to be reckoned with," Williams said. "We're the guys who have a target on our backs, we're the team that teams want to come beat and we just have to step up every game and not be lackadaisical.

"We've got to keep doing what we are doing - we're not doing anything bad so I say just keep it up."

Jamestown 6, Bismarck 0

B 000 000 0 -- 0 7 2

J 000 024 X -- 6 8 0

Highlights: J, Lunzman 7 IP, 7 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 5 K, 0-3, RBI. Williams 2-3, 2B, 3 RBI; Monson 2-3, RBI; Max Anderson 1-3, 2B.

Jamestown 6, Bismarck 1

J 103 002 0 -- 6 9 1

B 000 000 1 -- 1 3 1

Highlights: J, Hoyt 6 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 1 K, 3-4, RBI; Monson 2-4, RBI; Nold 2-4, RBI.

1/2: Jamestown 's Gage Orr looks to first base after making a play at second Monday, June 29, 2020, at Jack Brown Stadium. John M. Steiner / The Sun

2/2: Jamestown's Mason Lunzman throws a ball from the mound in an attempt to tag out the base runner on first Monday, June 29, 2020, at Jack Brown Stadium. John M. Steiner / The Sun