Jimmies top Comets, force today’s title game

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The Jamestown College baseball team made sure its season lasted at least one more day.

Jimmies junior outfielder Max Boe drove in four runs, including a three-run homer in the sixth inning that led to the ejection of a Mayville State player in a turbulent two minutes that completely changed the tone of the Dakota Athletic Conference tournament’s first championship game.

The Jimmies went on to defeat Mayville State 9-2 on Friday at Southside Municipal Ballpark. The teams will play at 1 p.m. today in the second championship game.

“We’re clinging on right now, tying a knot on the rope and holding on,” Boe said. “We’ve got one more. Hopefully we’ll take care of business.”

Had Mayville State (27-12) won on Friday, it would have won the conference title and advanced to the NAIA national tournament’s opening-round series without losing a game this week. Instead, the DAC’s regular-season champs had a five-game win streak snapped.

In what has become the recurring theme for winning pitchers in the tournament, Jamestown junior Anthony Fagan settled in after a shaky start and struck out eight over five innings as his batters backed him up.

Reliever Paul Roers added four strikeouts while giving up two hits in four innings.

“The game is easy when you get good pitching,” Jamestown coach Tom Hager said. “We got two great pitching performances today. I can’t say enough about how outstanding those guys did their jobs today.”

They got a lot of help, too.

Boe drove in Andy Scott for the Jimmies’ first run on a fielder’s choice in the third. Andy Racus added a two-run single later in the inning to put Jamestown ahead 3-1.

Boe’s three-run homer that he crushed over the right-field fence put the Jimmies (30-11) ahead 6-1.

Three pitches later and with two outs, things got combustible when first base umpire Mark Luther ejected Comets first baseman Ricky Alvernaz from the game for arguing.

Alvernaz, also the Comets’ clean-up hitter, is suspended for today’s game.

To make matters worse for Mayville State, shortstop and closer Dan Bauer injured his elbow on a put-out throw to first in the third and is out.

“It’s going to be hard,” Mayville State coach Scott Berry said. “But that’s why you play the game. We’ll play the game and do the best we can. We just have to positively respond. We’ve got a choice, to either negatively respond or positively (respond). I just want our kids to go out and give a great effort.”

The Comets were feeling good early, too.

In the first inning, their dugout was talkative and upbeat.

Alvernaz drove in Alex Berry on a single to right to open the scoring.

But once the Jimmies took the lead — and especially after Alvernaz was tossed — Mayville State’s dugout was nearly silent.

“The game did change very quickly, but we’ve talked the whole tournament about how the game of baseball can do that,” Hager said. “There’s a lot of highs and lows and you’ve got to understand the highs and lows as a team. I felt like our team capitalized on that change today.”

Keith Woelber added a two-run homer in the sixth and another run scored when Mayville State third baseman Tanner Carpenter misplayed a hop, allowing Griffen Sweazey to score from second and give the Jimmies a 9-1 lead.

Billy Tomblin added a run on a sacrifice fly to right in the sixth to trim Jamestown’s lead to 9-2.

Brock Gnadt took the loss for Mayville State. He gave up eight earned runs over 5 2/3 innings. He was yanked after Woelber’s homer.

Meanwhile, Roers buckled down and took care of the Comets, forcing today’s game with the final DAC championship up for grabs.

The conference will drop to four teams next season. That change means the DAC won’t be able to automatically send its tournament champion to nationals, which means there will likely not be an end-of-season conference tournament.

“Time will tell. We’re not going to quit playing,” Scott Berry said. “We didn’t play very well today, but if we don’t do well tomorrow, it isn’t because we didn’t come ready and prepared to play. These kids have given a tremendous effort all year and Jamestown’s an outstanding team. We’re just going to have at it tomorrow and see how things turn out.”

JC 003 303 000 — 9 12 2

MaSU 100 001 000 — 2 6 3

Anthony Fagan, Paul Roers (6) and Joe Perez. Brock Gnadt, Andy Stone (6), Andrew Walters (6), Justin Lance (9) and Billy Tomblin. W–Fagan. L–Gnadt. HR–JC, Max Boe; Keith Woelber.

Highlights: JC, Boe 2-for-6, HR, 4 RBI, 2 runs; Woelber 2-for-4, 2 RBI, 2 runs; Jesse Ramirez 2-for-3; Andy Racus 1-for-5, 3 RBI; Andy Scott 1-for-3, 2 runs; Fagan 5 IP, 8 K, 3 BB, 4 H, 2 ER; Roers 4 IP, 4 K, 1 BB, 2 H, 0 ER. MaSU, Alex Berry 1-for-3, run; Ricky Alvernaz 1-for-2, RBI; Gnadt 5.2 IP, 1 K, 3 BB, 8 H, 5 ER.

Jamestown College 5,

Minot State 2

Jamestown hit three homers to upend Minot State in the early afternoon semifinal loser-out game.

Sweazey hit a solo homer in the first, Kyle Mallory added a solo shot in the third and Tim Spivey added a two-run homer to put the Jimmies ahead 5-1.

Brennan Grubb picked up the win for Jamestown, striking out six and giving up no earned runs over eight innings.

Chad Boldt earned the save, despite giving up four hits and allowing an RBI single in the ninth.

Anthony Friesen was handed the loss for the Beavers (12-23). He went seven innings and struck out five while giving up eight hits.

JC 102 002 000 — 5 10 1

MiSU 100 000 001 — 2 8 0

Brennan Grubb, Chad Boldt (9) and Griffin Sweazey. Anthony Friesen, Brody Pinkerton (8) and Connor Moughtin. W–Grubb. L–Friesen. S–Boldt. HR–JC, Sweazey, Kyle Mallory, Tim Spivey.

Highlights: JC, Max Boe 2-for-4, SB, run; Sweazey 2-for-4, HR, 2 RBI; Jesse Ramirez 1-for-4, 2B, run; Spivey 1-for-4, HR, 2 RBI; Andy Scott 2-for-4; Mallory 1-for-2, HR; Grubb 8 IP, 6 K, 3 BB, 0 ER, 4 H. MiSU, Jordan Gilmour 2-for-3; Ryne Hornecker 0-for-3, RBI; Jaret Chatwood 2-for-4, run; Kory Houston 2-for-3, 2B; Scott Peters 1-for-4; Mitch Olson 1-for-3, RBI; Friesen 7 IP, 5 K, 0 BB, 5 ER, 8 H.

Tags: college baseball, dakota athletic conference baseball tournament, sports