JAMESTOWN - Not much was decided either way this weekend at Jack Brown Stadium.
Jamestown College and Dickinson State split four games, each winning one of the Dakota Athletic Conference games both Saturday and Sunday.
"It was four hard-fought games between two good baseball teams," Jamestown coach Tom Hager said. "Obviously, our goal was to win the series, but we feel good about getting the last one. We needed to win that game and were able to get it done."
The Blue Hawks Hawks (19-11, 6-2 DAC) maintained a one-game lead over the Jimmies for the second spot in the conference. Dakota State, meanwhile, is 7-1 in the league, although they have not played either Jamestown College or DSU.
"It's always a dogfight when we play. It seems like pretty much every game comes right to the end," DSU coach Duane Monlux said. "They've got a good club, we feel like we're doing some good things, so you expect the games to be tight and they were."
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The Jimmies (22-6 overall, 5-3 DAC) play six road games this week, the last 4 in Minot State next weekend are conference games. Wednesday's twinbill against Valley City State is not.
Blue Hawks 7, Jimmies 2
The opener Sunday was much like the nightcap Saturday.
The Blue Hawks built a big early lead, and this time starting pitcher Roberto Gonzalez made it stick.
DSU got four in the second off Jamestown starter Phil Curtis, who often fell behind in the count. He lasted just 2 2/3 innings, allowing all 6 of the 7 runs.
Sandez singled home one run in the second and doubled in another in the third as the Blue Hawks built a 6-1 lead.
Gonzalez wasn't flashy, but threw strikes and allowed six Jimmies hits.
"Berto gave us a big lift," Monlux said. "To start off the day with a quality pitching performance like that was pretty big."
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Jeremy Newman connected for a solo home run to lead off the fourth inning, but they got nothing in their final 5 at bats.
Jimmie reliever Ryan Lucero worked 6 1/3 strong innings of relief to keep the home team around.
"Ryan threw the ball great. He kept us in the ballgame and at least gave us a chance," Hager said.
Jimmies 14, Blue Hawks 10
The final game of the weekend turned in a contest of big innings, with the Jimmies hanging on 14-10.
They hit four home runs and batted around twice, scoring four runs in the first inning and six in the fourth.
But, in between, the high-powered Blue Hawks threw up a six of their own in the top of the third and led 6-4.
Then the fourth inning came and the Jimmies sent 10 batters to the plate.
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Kyle Montgomery doubled in Max Boe to put the Jimmies back in front. Tim Penner added a sac-fly RBI, before No. 9 man Nick Meehan connected for a two-run home run -- his first -- to push the lead to 9-6.
Erik Church was next up and singled into center field. Keith Woelber greeted new pitcher Andrew Grafton with a two-run home run to make it 11-6. They added one more run in the inning and led 12-6.
"I thought we hit the ball well all day, it's just that in the second game more of them fell in," Hager said. "We knew we were going to have to score to win. Dickinson State has a nice team.
"We needed to find a way to get the last one. I thought it was a gutsy effort by our guys in a game we needed."
The Blue Hawks got within 13-10 after scoring twice in the fifth and sixth, but Jamestown closer Chad Boldt got the Jimmies out of a mess in the sixth and nailed in down in the ninth for his fifth save, including a tumbling catch by Meehan in left field to end the game.
Meehan, Boe, Montgomery, Woelber and Church each had 2 hits in another balanced JC attack.
"When we get everybody clicking we have the ability to be an explosive offensive team," Hager said. "The key is to be consistent game in and game out and for the most part we've been able to do that."
