Blue Jays Roundup: Baseball picks up dominant wins over BHS

BISMARCK, N.D. — Jack Bowman has never asked his pitchers to throw 90 miles an hour.

He asks them to throw strikes and get out of an inning within 15 pitches.

That is exactly what happened Tuesday afternoon in Bismarck.

The Blue Jays trounced Bismarck High, defeating the Demons 10-3 and 10-0 in their season opener. Bowman and his crew will be back in Bismarck on Thursday for a 4:30 p.m. doubleheader against Bismarck Century.

"For the first day outside against an opponent, the pitchers did a good job," Bowman said. "It took the offense a bit to find itself, but we strung a few hits together late in the first game as well as the second game to pull away and earn the sweep."

The Demons scored on back-to-back plays in the top of the second to take an early 2-0 lead over the Blue Jays. Brady Helm kicked things off and sent G. Swanson home on a pop fly. Conner Havison followed up Swanson's ice-breaking score with one of his own, capitalizing on Ty Sanders' groundout.

Jamestown scored its first run of the year later that same inning.

Starting catcher, Max Fronk, singled on a pop fly out to first, and after making the initial 60-foot dash, the catcher retired to the dugout and allowed Tyson Jorissen to take over. On a series of gutsy plays, Jorissen made his way to third and then got home on an Ethan Gall sac fly to make it 2-1 Bismarck.

But the Demons kept the punches coming.

Contributed / Western Dakota Association

Swanson forced an error on Jackson Walters, sending a bullet of a ground ball past the third-baseman which was enough to send Traiden Kalfell home and stretch the Demons' lead back to two runs.

The Jays kept the Demons scoreless in the fourth and fifth but the Demons had no such luck.

In the bottom of the fifth, with one out and Walters aboard at first, Reagan Sortland wound up and launched a line drive out to center field. Walters wound up scoring off the triple to make it 3-2 BHS. Payton Hochhalter sent Sortland home on a line drive out to left field to knot things up at three runs apiece.

Bismarck couldn't seem to recover from the turn of events.

The Demons let go two more Blue Jay runs in the bottom of the sixth to fall behind 5-3. Up by two with one out on the board, the Blue Jays began firing with authority, notching five more runs before Bismarck could secure the elusive third out.

A 1-2-3-out performance by the Blue Jays' defense in the top of the seventh sealed the deal for the Jays.
Game No. 2 had a similar vibe of Blue Jay dominance.

Thomas Newman and Walters commanded the mound and between them, across five innings, they gave up just one hit. Newman retired eight batters and Walters struck out one.

After one, the Blue Jays jumped out to a 2-0 lead which grew to a 3-0 advantage after three innings. A seven-run inning by the Jays in the fifth enforced the 10-run rule and gave the Jays a 2-0 WDA record.

The Blue Jays notched 10 runs off of nine hits. Mason Lunzman led the charge going a perfect 3-for-3 at the plate and recording a double and a triple. Reagan Sortland was 1-for-3 but that one was his first bomb of the season. Walters was 0.667 at the plate and drove in a pair of runners.

"There were lots of lessons to teach from the games today, but it's easier to teach them after a win," Bowman said.

Jamestown 10, Bismarck High 3

BHS 021 000 0 — 3 3 0

JHS 010 027 X — 10 11 1

JHS: Carson Orr, Adam Sortland (4); BHS: T. Schaner, J. Groseclose (6); T. Sanders (7) W — Sortland; L — Schaner

Highlights: JHS — Sortland (4 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 3 K, 2 BB); Thomas Newman 2-4, RBI, R. Sortland 2-2, 3B, 2 RBI; Hochhalter 1-2, 2 RBI; Brooks Roaldson 1-4, 2B, 3 RBI; Max Fronk 2-2; Ethan Gall 1-2, RBI, 2B.

BHS — T. Groseclose 1-3, B. Helm 1-3, RBI; Sanders RBI.

Jamestown 10, Bismarck High 0

BHS 000 00X X — 0 1 1

JHS 201 07X X — 10 9 0

JHS: Thomas Newman, Jackson Walters (5); BHS: T. Groseclose, Kalfell (5) W — Newman; L — Kalfell

Highlights: JHS — Newman (4 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 8 K,1 BB); Thomas Newman 2-4, RBI, R. Sortland 2-2, 3B, 2 RBI; Mason Lunzman 3-3, 2B, 3B, RBI; Walters 2-3, 2 RBI, R. Sortland 1-3, HR, 2 RBI; Jorissen 2-3, 2 RBI.

BHS — Kalfell 1-2.