SEWARD, Neb (jimmiepride.com).– The University of Jamestown baseball team racked up 20 hits, including 10 for extra bases, in an 11-9 win over No. 22 Concordia (Neb.) in game two of Sunday afternoon’s GPAC doubleheader at Plum Creek Park.
Nine doubles, including three by Grant Okawa (SR/Mississauga, ON) and two by Taylor Cullen, along with Chase Hacker (SR/Millcreek, WA)’s home run, came off four Bulldog pitchers.
Lincoln Trujillo (SR/Cheyenne, WY)’s first inning single scored Blake Arritola (SO/Salem, OR) and Okawa for a 2-0 Jimmie lead. UJ went ahead 4-0 in the top of the second on an RBI double by Hacker and a single by Arritola.
The Bulldogs tied the game in the bottom of the second on a two-run home run by Joey Grabanski, a solo home run by Jakob Faulk, and a single by Jayden Adams.
UJ came back with a six-run third inning as the first four Jimmie hitters all reached base, three of them on doubles. Tayler Cullen (JR/Santa Rosa, Calif.)’s double chased Concordia starter Nick Little. Reliever Drew Ward got Brice Foster (SR/Lynnwood, WA) to ground out for the first out of the inning, but Trujillo was able to score the Jimmies’ third run of the inning. Michael Asahara (SO/Spanaway, Wash.) singled to score Cullen, and with two outs, Hacker homered to left to make it 10-4 in favor of UJ.
Another RBI double in the sixth, this time from Trujillo, increased the lead to 11-4 and it appeared Jamestown had the game in hand.
Ben Berg homered to lead off the bottom of the sixth and Faulk hit his second homer of the game one out later to cut the lead to 11-6. A Grabanski single in the seventh made it 11-7, and Concordia scored twice in the bottom of the ninth and had runners at second and third before Aaron Pugh (SR/Boissevain, MB, Canada) was able to get the final out for his sixth save.
Austin Pesicka (SR/West Linn, OR) (4-1), who came on in relief of starter Kendall Yackley (SO/Lynnwood, WA) in the third inning, pitched 2 1/3 shutout innings to get the win. He struck out four and walked two while not allowing a hit. Pugh worked two-thirds of an inning, striking out one and allowing one hit..
Asahara went 4-for-5 and scored twice, while Okawa, Trujillo, and Hacker all were 3-for-5. Arritola and Cullen each had a pair of hits.
In Sunday’s opener, Concordia led 1-0 after the second and 5-0 after the third, holding on for a 5-2 win.
Jamestown’s seventh inning rally started with a leadoff single by Blake Arritola. Brice Foster was hit by a pitch, then Foster and Arritola moved up a base on a wild pitch. Kendall Yackley walked to load the bases, and Michael Asahara reached on a fielder’s choice for out number one, but Arritola came home with UJ’s first run. Pinch-hitter Tanner Shepard (JR/Grand Rapids, MN) singled to score Foster to make it 5-2, and the Jimmies had runners at first and third with just one out. Bulldog reliever Nathan Buckallew retired the final two UJ hitters to end the threat.
Payson Mills (SO/Blackfoot, ID) (1-1) took the loss, but of the five runs charged to him, none were earned. He went four innings and gave up seven hits, walked two and struck out one. Cameron Multer (FR/Greeley, CO) struck out two over the final two innings in relief.
UJ had just five hits in game one, with Lincoln Trujillo, Dylan Dudley (JR/Cottage Grove, OR), and Foster joining Arritola and Shepard in the hit column.
The Jimmies, now 27-17 overall and 13-10 in the GPAC, host Dickinson State (N.D.) University in a non-conference doubleheader Tuesday at 2 p.m.