From Jamestown Athletics
TUCSON, Ariz. (jimmiepride.com)– The University of Jamestown baseball team split its first games in Arizona Sunday, defeating Bemidji State University 7-6 and falling 9-7 to Southwest Minnesota State.
UJ 7, Bemidji State 6
Triston Madison (FR/Spokane, WA) and Tanner Shepard (SR/Grand Rapids, MN) each drove in a pair of runs as the Jimmies defeated Bemidji State in Sunday’s second game.
Trailing 2-0 in the top of the third, Jamestown broke through for four runs to take a 4-2 lead. The Beavers tied the game with two runs of their own in the bottom half.
The Jimmies scored single runs in the fourth and fifth innings, and the score stayed 6-4 until Bemidji State pushed across a run in the bottom of the eighth.
Madison singled home Kendall Yackley (JR/Lynnwood, WA) in the top of the ninth for an insurance run, which ended up being the difference as the Beavers were able to cut the lead to one until Eric Kessler (FR/Dallas, OR) got the final out for the save.
Shepard and Quade Peters (FR/West Fargo, ND) each had two hits. Ben Ray (JR/Federal Way, WA), the second of five Jimmie pitchers, got the win after pitching a scoreless fifth inning.
Southwest Minnesota State 9, UJ 7
After being held off the scoreboard for the first four innings, Southwest Minnesota State scored their nine runs over their final four at-bats in a 9-7 win over the Jimmies.
Luke Shekeryk (SR/Seattle, WA)’s three-run homer in the top of the first staked UJ to an early lead, and Jamestown kept a three-run lead until the Mustangs plated two in the bottom of the fifth.
Trent Peters (SO/Niverville, MB, Canada) had a two-run single in the sixth and Tayler Cullen (SR/Santa Rosa, Calif.) singled in two more in the seventh as the Jimmies extended their lead to 7-3.
The Mustangs scored three times in both the seventh and eighth innings to go ahead 9-7, then UJ went down in order in the top of the ninth.
Shekeryk and Shepard had two hits while seven other Jimmies also recorded hits. Payson Mills (JR/Blackfoot, ID) started on the mound and struck out six over four innings, allowing two runs on three hits.
Jamestown (7-6) takes on Southwest Minnesota State at 10 a.m., followed by a game against Bemidji State at 1:30 p.m.