JAMESTOWN, N.D. (NewsDakota.com) – The Jamestown Eagles are the Champions of the 2020 Phil Brown Classic. They defeated Gillette, Wyoming 1-0 in eight innings in the championship game on Sunday. Fergus Falls took third with a 12-6 win over Thief River Falls and LaMoure was a 10-6 winners over Dickinson for fifth.
GAME #11: LaMoure 10, Dickinson 6
It looked like we were headed for a football score after two innings. Thirteen combined runs were scored in the first two innings. Seven by LaMoure and six by Dickinson. But LaMoure starter settled down and shutout Dickinson out the rest of the game.
The Volunteers scored two runs in the top of the first on an rbi single by Tyler White and Jayce Concha’s rbi double.
LaMoure would see that and raise them one in the bottom half. Corban Potts drove in Jace Hanson with a single to start the scoring. Mac Bierman followed that with a triple to plate Potts. The next batter, Landon Piehl drove in Bierman with a sacrifice fly.
Dickinson would regain the lead with four runs in the top of the second. The big blow was Hunter Deschamp’s two run single. A run scored on an error and Concha had his second rbi of the game with a single to make it 6-3.
But not to be outdone, LaMoure would score four runs in the bottom of the second to regain the lead for good. The first four batters reached via the walk, the Jace Hanson drove in two with a double. Potts added another rbi single and a run scored on an error.
LaMoure would add some insurance with a run in the fourth on Bierman’s sacrifice fly and two more in the sixth on an error and Garrett Hebl’s rbi single.
Jace Hanson and Corban Potts had two hits and two rbi each. Mac Bierman had two rbi and Hanson score three times. Potts and Alex Klever each came in twice.
After a shaky start, Tate Mart went the distance allowing six runs on seven hits in seven innings. He walked two and struck out two. He did not allow a hit after Concha’s rbi single with two out in the second.
LaMoure is now 12-8 on the season.
Championship: Jamestown 1, Gillette, WY. 0 F/8
The championship game was all it was expected to be. Gillette camein 36-9 and 3-0 in the tournament, Jamestown also 3-0 in the tournament and 16-4 overall.
It was a pitchers duel between Connor Hoyt and Jacoby Nold of Jamestown and Hayden Syltie of Gillette.
Syltie allowed a two-out double to Tommy Falk in the first inning and that was it. He would retire 13 of the next 14 batters and finish with 11 strike outs and one walk over seven innings.
Connor Hoyt went the first three innings for the Eagles. He allowed three hits but walked three and hit two to go with a strike out. Jacoby Nold took over in the fourth and pitched 4 1/3 innings in relief. He allowed four hits with four strike outs. But Nold struggled with the strike zone a bit to with two walks and he hit three batters. Despite the 18 baserunners, time and time again they both got out of jams without allowing a run. The Roughriders left 17 runners on, 12 in scoring position. Four times they left the bases loaded. Head coach Sam Joseph they had a plan as far as what pitchers were going to be used going in, and it worked.
The Eagles got the lone run in the bottom of the eighth. Nolan Nenow led off with a single to center. He was sacrificed to second my Isaac Mimong. Jeremy Williams was intentionally walked and Connor Hoyt reached when his comebacker to the pitcher was misplayed for an error to load the bases for Tommy Falk. On a 3-1 pitch, Falk hit a tapper to the first baseman who stepped on the bag, but forgot that was only the second out and Nenow came into score the winning run.
Coach Joseph says winning a game like this will help his team down the road.
Mason Lunzman, who came in to get the final two outs of the eighth, got the win in relief for the Eagles who are 17-4 on the season. They will get back into West Region play this week when they travel to Dickinson to play the Volunteers on Tuesday.