Jimmies move on with 5-2 win over Doane in GPAC tourney

May 7—CRETE, Neb. — The No. 5-seeded University of Jamestown continued to find ways to win, this time beating the top seeded Doane University 5-2 in an early morning game on Saturday, May 7 in Crete, Nebraska.

Jimmies head coach Tom Hager said he was really proud of his team's ability to fight through adversity and get the win in this game.

"It's something that we really preach, back to ya, is a phrase we preach in our program," Hager said. "After a couple mistakes early we really shored it up on defense and played a great game."

In the same way as the day before, the Jimmies (28-22) starter had to work his way out of an early jam, this time it was Trei Hough who faced first and second with nobody out in the second inning. Hough was able to get out of it thanks to a sacrifice bunt, a caught stealing and a fly out.

The Jimmies put the first crooked number up in the bottom of the second when Tayler Cullen grounded out to the first baseman Lukas White who slipped and was unable to get back to the bag in time. A stolen base and a ground out later moved Cullen to third where a Reece Mckenzie infield single brought him home and put the Jimmies up 1-0.

The Tigers' (36-11) Andy Theiler led off the third with a single, stole second and moved to third when the catcher, Triston Madison's throw sailed into center field. Later in the inning, the Tigers' Joe Osborn struck out but Madison's throw to first sailed past Shepard allowing Theiler to score and tie the game up at one.

The Tigers starter, Aaron Forest lost the strike zone in the bottom of the third and it put the Jimmies back out ahead. The Jimmies started the inning off with a single before being moved to second on a groundout, another single and a walk later, set up Luke Shekeryk to get hit by a pitch and force in a run to put the Jimmies up 2-1. Two batters later, Isaiah Roebuck lined a double into center field that was just past the diving Theiler allowing all three runners to come home and the Jimmies lead to go to 5-1.

"When I hit it, I knew it was a line drive, I barreled it but the center fielder looked like he was tracking it really well," Roebuck said. "He laid out and I didn't know if he caught it or not so I just ran to second."

The Tigers fought back in the fifth when Theiler lined a double down the right field line to score Meyer and cut the deficit to 5-2.

The lead could've been cut into even further if not for a web gem from Orejudos who ranged back into shallow left-center to make the catch and fired a missile to the plate to get the tagging Logan Amick and keep the score right where it was at 5-2.

"That's one of the best college baseball plays I have ever seen," Hager said. It takes incredible athleticism to make that catch and throw a guy out at the plate when you're on your heels. It was a big time play."

The Jimmies advance to the bracket championship game at noon on Monday, May 9. The Jimmies will be determined by which team wins the losers bracket game between Morningside and Midland and then face off against Doane.

DU 2, UJ 5

DU: 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 — 2 5 1

UJ: 0 1 4 0 0 0 0 0 X—5 6 4

Scoring plays:

Second inning:

UJ: Reece Mckenzie single, Tayler Cullen scores, unearned

Third inning:

DU: Joe Osborn strikes out, reaches first on a throwing error by catcher Triston Madison, Andy Thieler scores, unearned

UJ: Luke Shekeryk hit by pitch, Quade Peters scores

UJ: Isaiah Roebuck 3 RBI double, Shekeryk, Tanner Shepard, Xander Orejudos score

Fifth inning:

DU: Thieler RBI double, Ben Meyer scores

WP: Trei Hough (5-1) LP: Aaron Forrest (3-3) SV: Hayden Brown (4)