Photo and Article via Jamestown Athletics
CRETE, NE. (jimmiepride.com) -The University of Jamestown baseball team advanced to the championship game of the Doane bracket in the GPAC postseason tournament, defeating Northwestern (Iowa) College 10-1 and Mount Marty (S.D.) University 9-5.
Jamestown, now 30-22 this season, will face Doane University Saturday at 10 a.m. The Jimmies will need to defeat the Tigers twice to advance to the GPAC championship game.
A bases-loaded walk to Tayler Cullen (JR/Santa Rosa, Calif.) and a two-run single by Mike Asahara (SO/Spanaway, Wash.) staked the Jimmies to a 3-0 lead in the top of the first against Northwestern in Friday’s opener.
Tanner Shepard (JR/Grand Rapids, MN) and Dylan Dudley (JR/Cottage Grove, OR) each drove in a run in the top of the fifth to make it 5-0, then Luke Shekeryk (JR/Seattle, WA) scored on a wild pitch and Cullen doubled in another run for a 7-0 Jimmie lead.
Grant Okawa (SR/Mississauga, ON) came home on a passed ball in the top of the sixth as UJ pushed the advantage to 8-0. Northwestern got on the scoreboard in the bottom half to make it 8-1.
Cullen homered in the seventh and Lincoln Trujillo (SR/Cheyenne, WY) homered in the ninth to round out the Jamestown scoring.
Kensaku Akiya (SR/Kawasaki, Japan) (3-5) went seven innings, allowing one run on five hits. He walked three and struck out five.
Shekeryk and Cullen both had two hits for Jamestown.
Faced with another loser-out game, the Jimmes trailed Mount Marty 2-1 heading into the bottom of the sixth, with their only hit being Brian Rice (JR/Vancouver, WA)’s solo home run leading off the bottom of the first.
Dylan Dudley doubled in Grant Okawa to tie the game at 2, then Brice Foster (SR/Lynnwood, WA) singled home Lincoln Trujillo to give UJ a 3-2 lead. Matt Meraz (SR/Aurora, CO)’s sacrifice fly later scored Foster to make it 4-2.
Mount Marty cut the lead to 4-3 with a single run in the top of the seventh, but UJ broke the game open with a four-run bottom half. With one out, Okawa doubled and Luke Shekeryk was intentionally walked. Trujillo came through with a single to score Okawa and move Shekeryk to second. Foster tripled to score Trujillo and Shekeryk, then came home as Tayler Cullen reached on an error.
Shekeryk’s single in the eighth scored Chase Hacker (SR/Millcreek, WA) to make it 9-3. The Lancers added a pair of unearned runs in the ninth for the final runs of the game.
Cameron Multer (FR/Greeley, CO) (2-0), the fourth Jimmie pitcher, worked 1 1/3 inning for the win. He allowed one run on three hits and struck out two.
Okawa and Foster both were 2-for-4. Foster scored twice and drove in three runs.