Jimmies force miscues in 8-2 GPAC tourney win over Morningside

Maxwell O'Neill, The Jamestown Sun, N.D.
·3 min read

May 6—CRETE, Neb. — In the second inning, the No.5-seeded University of Jamestown's Payson Mills worked his way out of a first and second jam against No. 4-seeded Morningside University in the first round of the GPAC tournament on Friday, May 6 in Crete, Nebraska. The Jimmies (27-22) immediately took the momentum and ran with it, scoring two runs in the top of the third on their way to a 8-2 win.

The Jimmies' Triston Madison opened the third inning with a double down the left field line. The next batter was Quade Peters who split the center fielder, Hunter Jenkins and left fielder, Carter Ades to bring home the pinch runner, Blake Arritola and put the Jimmies up 1-0. Two batters later, Xander Orejudos flew out to Ades to score Peters and extend the lead to 2-0.

The Jimmies broke the game open in the fifth inning when they loaded the bases for Xander Orejudos. Orejudos responded by lining a pitch to the left fielder who let it get past him allowing all three runners to come home and make it 5-0 Jimmies. The next batter Tanner Shepard doubled down the left-field line to score Orejudos and push the lead out to 6-0. Later in the inning, Tayler Cullen hit a sacrifice fly to center to score Shepard and make it 7-0. Madison singled to left-center to score Isaiah Roebuck and push the lead out to 8-0.

The score stayed that way until the bottom of the eighth when the Mustangs' Hunter Hope singled home Ades to cut the deficit to 8-1.

The Mustangs (31-16) continued to cut into the lead in the bottom of the ninth when Jenkins flew out to center field to score Carter Kratz to make it 8-2.

While the Jimmies starter Mills went six innings today, the Mustangs starter Wade Cannaday went four innings, which Jimmies head coach Tom Hager said he is happy about.

"It felt like we did a good job of continuing to put the ball in play in the third, fourth and fifth inning, hit the ball hard, and eventually scored some runs," Hager said. "I'm really pleased with how we battled at the plate. We made it difficult for their starting pitcher today."

The Jimmies return to the diamond at 9 a.m. on Saturday, May 7, when they face the winner of the game between top seeded Doane University and No. 8-seeded Midland University.

Hager said the fact that the Jimmies have at a minimum two games left in their tournament makes Mills going as deep as he did important.

"Anytime you play in game one, when you can get a guy go deep in the game, it allows you to build off that for the rest of the tournament," Hager said. "That was huge, he was outstanding today and he really gave our team what we needed."

UJ 8, MU 2

UJ: 0 0 2 0 6 0 0 0 0 — 8 10 0

MU: 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1—2 6 4

Scoring plays:

Third inning:

UJ: Quade Peters RBI double, Blake Arritola scores

UJ: Xander Orejudos sacrifice fly, Peters scores

Fifth inning:

UJ: Orejudos single, advances on an error by Hunter Jenkins, Kendall Yackley scores on the error, Peters scores on the error, Arritola scores, unearned

UJ: Tanner Shepard RBI double, Orejudos scores

UJ: Tayler Cullen sacrifice fly, Shepard scores

UJ: Triston Madison single, Isaiah Roebuck scores, unearned

Eighth inning:

MU: Hunter Hope RBI single, Carter Ades scores

Ninth inning:

MU: Hunter Jenkins sacrifice fly, Carter Kratz scores

WP: Payson Mills (6-1) LP: Wade Canaday (7-3)