Series sweep: Jimmies take four over visiting Tigers

Apr. 12—Kendall Yackley's a pretty darn solid defensive third baseman for the University of Jamestown baseball team.

It only stands to reason his strong arm across the diamond also plays well on the mound.

Yackley put a four-game weekend sweep of visiting Dakota Wesleyan University to bed Sunday afternoon at Jack Brown Stadium, turning in the Jimmies' best starting pitching performance of the series. The sophomore tossed seven scoreless innings with eight strikeouts in an 8-0 UJ shutout to cap an offensive-heavy two days for the Jims.

"Dakota Wesleyan got on the scoreboard early in all three games (prior), and finally Kendall Yackley set the tone with those zeros," said University of Jamestown baseball coach Tom Hager. "Give our guys credit. They were able in that first inning to pile three runs on the board, and I think that helped him relax a little bit and he was awfully good today."

Yackley primarily used offspeed pitches to get ahead of hitters, before reaching back for fastballs and going to a slider for outs. The sophomore struck out two Tigers in a 1-2-3 fourth, two more in the sixth, and fanned Dakota Wesleyan lead-off man Cameron Quigley for a second time to end the seventh and wrap up his third win (3-0) in five starts this season.

"It was good getting the curveball early in counts, kinda getting them on their toes, and then working the fastball later," said Yackley, who tossed 101 pitches. "The curveball and slider were working well, a changeup here and there."

The Lynnwood, Washington, native scattered five hits and walked three batters but relied on his stuff, and the seven Jimmies behind him in the field, as the Tigers would ultimately strand 10 runners on base.

Yackley lowered his season ERA to 3.21 and has now punched out 29 batters in 28 innings on the hill.

"For me it's just trusting my stuff," Yackley said. "I try to, honestly, just throw it over the plate. I know I've got a really good defense behind me, so kinda let them do their thing and good things will happen."

But would Sunday's sterling starter rather be patrolling third, where the majority of his time wearing Jimmie orange is spent?

"That's a tough one," Yackley smiled. "When I throw like this, I don't mind pitching."

Having arguably the scariest designated hitter in the Great Plains Athletic Conference batting third in the order doesn't hurt, either.

The Jimmies' Luke Shekeryk batted 8-for-14 with four home runs and six RBIs in the four games, spraying dinger No. 4 — a two-run shot — the opposite way to left field during UJ's three-run first.

At 6-foot-4, 265 pounds, Shekeryk is as opposing a figure in the left-handed batter's box as anybody in the NAIA. His 13 home runs are creeping close to top-10 territory in the nation, as the Jimmies improved to 25-12 overall and stand third in the GPAC at 11-5.

"Everyone seems pretty confident," Shekeryk said. "Even when we're down early in games, or late in games, you can tell everyone's just really poised and everyone understands what we're trying to do at the end of the game.

"You can tell we have a good group out here."

Shekeryk has mashed six of his 13 dingers in six of UJ's last seven games, including a pair of big flies during a 4-for-4 performance in the Jimmies' 12-6 game 2 victory over the Tigers on Saturday. Shekeryk belted a solo shot in game 1, giving him three homers in a single day for a second time this season.

"He's a difference-maker," Hager said. "On Day 1 he had such a big day, and then to come back today and have a few more hits? Just really proud of him."

Pitchers haven't exactly been giving Shekeryk a ton of opportunities to do damage, which has forced him to fine-tune his patience at the plate. Shekeryk worked a pair of walks this weekend while raising his slash line to .365/.484/.905.

"Right now (pitchers are) just kinda trying to waste pitches in the dirt," Shekeryk said. "Not chasing that low pitch, making pitchers come to me and see the ball up ... it's just kinda giving me a lot of confidence and success."

As did the Jimmie faithful over the weekend.

"Being in front of a home crowd kinda changes things," Shekeryk said. "It sorta gets me excited."

UJ outfielder Tayler Cullen wrapped up a 7-for-14 series at the dish with a fourth double in as many games. Cullen clubbed a two-run double during a four-run UJ first in Sunday's opener, which was won by the Jimmies 6-2 after spotting the Tigers two runs in the top of the first.

UJ starting pitcher Chase Hacker settled in thereafter, pitching four scoreless frames before Brice Foster nailed down the final two innings. Shortstop Grant Okawa and first baseman Dylan Dudley both clubbed solo homers in the win.

Jamestown's Lincoln Trujillo crushed his fifth home run of the year in the eighth inning of the finale, as relievers Cameron Jenkins (eighth) and Andy Reed (ninth) combined with Yackley to shut out the Tigers.

Jenkins tossed a three-inning save in Saturday's opening 10-5 victory. UJ starter Dru Fitz collected the win but allowed five earned runs on seven hits through four.

Reed earned Saturday's 12-6 game 2 win in relief.

"Our bullpen was tremendous," Hager said. "You have to have a deep and quality bullpen if you want to have success in this league and they came up huge."

Offensively, the Jimmies put 49 hits and 10 home runs on the Tigers in the four games.

"We started to see the offense make a turn for the better last weekend down at Dordt (Iowa) and then heading into Concordia (Minnesota) and into this weekend, we started to see that consistency," Hager said. "Overall, it was a really good weekend offensively."

The Jimmies had a single, nine-inning game at Dickinson State University on Wednesday (April 14) canceled and will host Mount Marty University for another four-game GPAC series next Saturday and Sunday.

"We're starting to put the ball in play and scoring some runs," Yackley said. "I think we just need to keep this strong mentality going."

Saturday

University of Jamestown 10, Dakota Wesleyan 5

DW 212 000 0 — 5 8 3

UJ 145 000 X — 10 16 2

Batteries: D, Ethan Davis, Jacob Glovich (3) and Cole Hellie. J, Dru Fitz, Cameron Jenkins (5) and Dirk Eymundson. W-Fitz. L-Glovich. S-Jenkins.

Highlights: J, Fitz 4 IP, 7 H, 5 R, 5 ER, 0 BB, 5 SO; Jenkins 3 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 SO; Brian Rice 4-4, 2B, 2 RBI, R; Luke Shekeryk 1-4, HR, RBI; Dylan Dudley 2-4, RBI, R; Matt Meraz 2-3, 2 R; Tayler Cullen 2-3, 2B, 3 RBI; Dirk Eymundson 2-3, HR, 2 RBI.

D, Davis 2 2/3 IP, 13 H, 10 R, 10 ER, 0 BB, 1 SO; Glovich 3 1/3 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 5 SO; Cameron Quigley 2-4, 2B, 2 R; Drew DeMers 3-4, RBI, 2 R; Luke Lemay 1-3, HR, RBI.

Records: Jamestown 22-12, 8-5 GPAC. Dakota Wesleyan 10-14, 4-9.

University of Jamestown 12, Dakota Wesleyan 6

DW 100 300 200 — 6 13 2

UJ 121 240 11X — 12 15 2

Batteries: D, Patrick Starr, Brad Dean (5), Try Wilhelm (8), Rick Strubel (8) and Wyatt Hunt. J, Kensaku Akiya, Andy Reed (4), Austin Pesicka (6), Trey Evans (7), Logan O'Neil (9), Aaron Pugh (9) and Dirk Eymundson, Connor Morman (9). W-Reed. L-Starr

Highlights: E, Starr 4 1/3 IP, 12 H, 10 R, 8 ER, 1 BB, 2 SO; Drew DeMers 2-5, Tyler Torres 3-5, HR, 2B, 3 RBI.

UJ, Akiya 3 1/3 IP, 6 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 0 BB, 2 SO; Reed 2 1/3 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 SO; Pesicka 2/3 IP, 1 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB; Evans 1 2/3 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 SO; O'Neil 0 IP, 2 H; Pugh 1 IP, 0 H, 0 BB, 2 SO; Luke Shekeryk 4-4, 2 HR, 2 RBI, 3 R; Lincoln Trujill 1-4, HR, 2 RBI; Knedall Yackley 1-1, HR, 3 RBI, 2 BB; Brian Rice 2-4; Tayler Cullen 3-4, 2B, RBI.

Records: Jamestown 23-12, 9-5 GPAC. Dakota Wesleyan 10-15, 4-10.

Sunday

University of Jamestown 6, Dakota Wesleyan University 2

DW 200 000 0 — 2 6 2

UJ 401 001 X — 6 5 0

Batteries: D, Seth Christiansen, Jacob Hammons (6) and Cole Hellie. J, Chase Hacker, Brice Foster (6) and Dirk Eymundson. W-Hacker. L-Christiansen.

Highlights: D, Christiansen 5 IP, 5 H, 5 R, 5 ER, 3 BB, 8 SO; Dalton Wilcoxen 2-3, RBI.

J, Hacker 5 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 4 SO; Foster 2 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 3 SO; Grant Okawa 1-2, HR, RBI, BB; Dylan Dudley 1-1, HR, RBI, BB; Tayler Cullen 1-3, 2B, RBI; Kendall Yackley 1-3, 2B.

Records: Jamestown 24-12, 10-5 GPAC. Dakota Wesleyan 10-16, 4-11.

University of Jamestown 8, Dakota Wesleyan 0

DW 000 000 0 — 0 8 1

UJ 300 020 X — 8 13 1

Batteries: D, Jared Jones, Kyle Halverson (8) and Cole Hellie. J, Kendall Yackley, Cameron Jenkins (8), Andy Reed (9) and Dirk Eymundson. W-Yackley. L-Jones.

Highlights: D, Jones 7 1/3 IP, 12 H, 8 R, 8 ER, 0 BB, 7 SO; Halverson 2/3 IP, 1 H, 0 R; Luke LeMay 3-4; Hellie 2-4.

J, Yackley 7 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 8 SO, 101 NP; Jenkins 1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 SO; Reed 1 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 SO; Luke Shekeryk 3-4, HR, 2B, 3 RBI; Lincoln Trujillo 1-1, HR, 2 RBI; Tayler Cullen 1-3, 2B; Brice Foster 1-4, 2B; Grant Okawa 1-3, RBI; Connor MOrmon 1-1, RBI.

Records: Jamestown 25-12, 11-5 GPAC. Dakota Wesleyan 10-17, 4-12.