VALLEY CITY – In the first half of the last regular season baseball series for the foreseeable future between Jamestown and VCSU, the Jimmies took two wins, but the Vikings made neither easy.
UJ swept Valley City State 5-4 and 4-1 Friday at Charlie Brown Memorial Field.
Game 1: Jamestown 5, VCSU 4 (7)
Jamestown (25-10, 6-3 NSAA) had to hang on after scoring five runs in the first two innings, as three unearned runs in the sixth inning brought VCSU (15-23, 0-9) within a run.
An error scored the first Jimmie run in the first inning, with the second scoring on a steal of home by Ryan Muizelaar.
Alex Alva gave UJ a 4-0 lead in the top of the second with a two-run single, his 11th straight at bat with a hit. Muizelaar followed with a sacrifice fly.
Alexis Velasco homered with one out in the bottom of the fourth for the first VCSU run.
In the Vikings’ sixth, Velasco singled with one out, then two errors loaded the bases. Hunter Logan drove in a run with a ground ball, then Devon Minney drove in two runs with a single. Ben Bohlmann was brought in for the Jimmies in relief of starter Avery Liestman, and Bohlmann struck out Diesel Goya to end the threat.
Bohlmann then retired VCSU in order in the bottom of the seventh for his third save.
Liestman (6-3) broke a two-game losing streak, allowing four runs and six hits and five and two-thirds innings with six strikeouts and a walk.
Hunter Magnuson (3-4) took the loss for the Vikings, despite a six-hit complete game.
Game 2: Jamestown 4, VCSU 1
For Jamestown (26-10, 7-3 NSAA), starter Luke Zimmer (5-3) recorded a career-high 10 strikeouts and Muizelaar drove in three runs.
The first Jamestown run scored on an error in the second inning. Muizelaar beat out an infield hit to score Alva and give the Jimmies a 2-0 lead in the second.
Muizelaar led off the sixth with his 10th home run of the season and drove in a run while reaching on an error in the eighth.
VCSU (15-24, 0-10) kept producing scoring chances, but only tallied in the eighth inning on an RBI pinch-single by Judson Seliskar. The Vikings had base runners in seven of the nine innings and stranded 10 runners.
Zimmer gave up one run and six hits in seven innings. Joe Hart pitched a perfect ninth inning for his third save.
VCSU starter Connor Martin (0-5) yielded four runs and six hits in seven and a third innings with seven strikeouts.
The final two games of the series will be played on Saturday in Valley City. Coverage will begin at 11:45 AM on KOVC 1490/96.3 and Jamestown 107.1. Live and archived video also will be available at newsdakota.com.