Reed opens, Rice breaks out in the UJ win over Blue Hawks

The senior looked sharp ahead of the Great Plains Athletic Conference final in that game against Doane, which starts at 1pm on Saturday at Jack Brown Stadium.

Reed used 25 pitches against eight batters in two innings and recorded four fly ball outs and two ground outs in an 8-4 Jimmies win over the Blue Hawks.

“I just wanted to attack the zone,” said Reed. “I’ve had a few rough appearances in the last couple of gigs, but I wanted to attack and work on some things, especially this midweek game in Doane which is a big series.”

Reed has recorded 80 career strikes in 92 innings for the Jimmies but allowed 16 hits and nine earned runs in his last seven outings. Reed had a particularly frustrating time at Morningside last Saturday. He was charged three earned runs for relief without posting an 8-4 UJ loss.

The Bullpen leader said he still has a solid grasp of his pitches, but the thugs just guessed right more times than not against the right-wing kicking in on Wednesday. This is something that is not unusual in a mug that has been around for a while.

“I feel great. The slider and the curve worked. I think I just have to mix that in a little more in fastball,” said Reed, who is 9-3 for the Jims with eight saves. “These GPAC teams have seen me for two years. They know what I’m going to throw.

“I think it will be big this weekend to mix it up.”

Andy Reed of the University of Jamestown speaks to teammates in the dugout outside Concordia College at Bucky Burgau Field in Moorhead, Minnesota on Tuesday, March 23, 2021. Michael Savaloja / The Sun.

University of Jamestown head coach Tom Hager isn’t afraid of getting Reed up the mountain in any situation, including Wednesday’s launch. The Jimmies used eight arms with the closer Aaron Pugh (2.00 ERA, 6 saves) facing the minimum, recording two strikes in an unsafe situation on the ninth.

“We wanted to get Reed to start here. It’s been a while since that happened,” said Hager. “You never know when we might use him in the postseason and whenever you can start the game with two goalless innings that sets the tone. He did a really good job today.”

UJ’s Brian Rice was the afternoon’s player. The junior right fielder from Vancouver, Washington, lit the Jimmies offensive with a homer and four RBIs on the plate during a 3-on-5 day.

Rice uncorked a single with two runs in the third inning, giving Jamestown a 2-1 lead. The left-hander later drew a shot with two runs over the wall to the right to break a 4-4 draw in the fourth. The Jimmie batsman increased his season average from 0.294 to 0.306 in 122 bats.

“Brian has the ability to take on a game,” said Hager. “It may be small, but it can be electric and it was fun to see today.”

Dust billows from the closed glove of Lincoln Trujillo (13), which means a catch to score a goal on Mathias Dufner (9) from the state of Dickinson at Jack Brown Stadium on Wednesday, April 28, 2021. John M. Steiner / The sun

Rice is listed at 5-foot-9,175 pounds, but he squared a low John Koronka Fastball and took it court with the best of them.

“The swing felt right, that was all it really was,” said Rice. “The approach was just in the middle, try to go ahead and start something for the team.”

Jamestown’s offense came to life in his last game last weekend and erupted in an 11-9 win at conference organizers Concordia University in Seward, Nebraska, with 10 additional hits (20 total). Left fielder Tayler Cullen went 4-2 with an RBI double on Wednesday, while Kendall Yackley shot a left shot over the wall in the eighth to insure himself.

“We came together as a team and we just really preached that we would play as a team,” said Rice of the Jimmies’ last game in Seward. “No selfish bats, leave everything for the boys out there and play our hearts out.”

Mitchell Dennis threw the third, allowing a single run, while Trey Evans rebounded in the fifth after struggling from the rubber in the fourth. Evans allowed Dickinson’s Karson Backer two singles and a double with two runs as the Blue Hawks would finish the game 4-4, but Evans sat on his side in fifth.

Cameron Multer (2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 2 SO) and Ben Ray (1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 SO) brought the game to Pugh in ninth place.

“Our plan was to put a few different people on the hill,” said Hager. “I was really proud of the way we attacked the zone and also very proud that when we asked the guys for another inning, the second inning was better than the first.”

This weekend’s series with the Doane University Tigers should be fun. The Jimmies (28-17, 13-10) occupy fifth place in the conference ranking, while the Tigers (28-16-1, 17-7) are one game behind Concordia in 22nd place for the conference leadership.

Jamestown is 6-2 against Doane in 2014.

“There is no question that we took a step forward last weekend to swing the bats against Concordia,” said Hager. “Then I got the feeling that we had some good bats today too. We just have to continue against Doane.”

Out of the dust, Tayler Cullen of the University of Jamestown emerges after dipping into the second base to earn a double and a day by Tamarek Wrinkle, 4, of Dickinson state on Wednesday April 28, 2021 in Avoid Jack Brown Stadium. John M. Steiner / The sun

University of Jamestown 8, Dickinson State University 4

D 001 300 000 – 4 7 0

J 004 200 020 – 8 9 1

Batteries: D, Tamarek Wrinkle, John Koronka (4), Jose Torres (7), Jackson Schaubel (8) and Kaiden Reeve. J, Andy Reed, Mitchell Dennis (3), Trey Evans (4), Cameron Multer (6), Ben Ray (8), Aaron Pugh (9) and Dirk Eymundson, Connor Mormon (6). W-Multer. L-Koronka.

Highlights: D, Tamarek 3 IP, 5 H, 4 ER, 2 BB, 2 SO, 62 TP; Koronka 3 IP, 1 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 HR, 2 BB, 2 SO; Karson Backer 1-3, 2B, 2 RBI, R, BB; Mathias Dufner 2-3, 2B, R.

J, Reed 2 IP, 0 R, 1 H, 1 BB, 0 SO, 25 TP; Dennis 1 IP, 1R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 1 SO; Evans 2 IP, 3 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 0 BB, 1 SO; Cameron 2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 2 SO; Ray 1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 SO; Pugh 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 SO; Tayler Cullen 2-4, 2B, RBI, R; Brian Rice 3-5, HR, 4 RBI, 2 R; Kendall Yackely 1-2, HR, 2 RBI, R; Chase Hacker 1-2, BB, R, SB; Luke Shekeryk 1-4, RBI, R.

Records: Jamestown 28-17. Dickinson 12-20.