RUSSELLVILLE - Jamestown bounced back after struggling the week before by beating Calvary Lutheran 5-3 on Thursday and sweeping three games at the Russellville Round Robin over the weekend to claim the championship. The Eagles beat the Missouri Military Academy 5-3 Friday, then beat the School of the Osage 11-5 and Russellville 4-3 in extra innings on Saturday.
The Eagles had their hands full against Russellville, falling behind 2-0 after the first inning.
"They were finding the holes, and that happens some times," Jamestown coach Jordan Hoecker said. "But we just stayed focused, didn't let it get to us and played the rest of the game really well."
Garrett Wolfe started on the bump, getting the first two outs in three pitches in the opening frame, but allowed four straight singles to give the Indians the 2-0 advantage.
"I was a little sketchy in the beginning," Wolfe said. "I kept my head in it in the whole time. "The first inning is always my worst, but after that, I pulled through."
Wolfe pitched a complete game, allowing three runs - two earned - on seven hits while striking out 12 and walking four. After allowing four of those hits in the first, he scattered the three hits throughout the final seven innings.
"Wolfe did well," Hoecker said. "He didn't have his best stuff from the start, and he came out and worked through it. We focused on fundamentals and made some adjustments."
The Eagles tied the game in the fourth, using a ground out to third to plate Colton DeVore, and Austin Flippin reached on an error by the by the center fielder to score Garrett Jones.
Jamestown took its first lead of the game in the sixth inning, as Alex Gerlach singled to left to score Wyatt Hunziker. But Russellville answered in its half of the inning in one of the most bizzare ways possible, a dropped-third-strike with the bases-loaded to even the game at 3-3.
"The bottom of the sixth was just how today went," Hoecker said. "We had some ups, we had some downs. We had to fight through and make some adjustments, and I thought we did well at it."
After the two teams couldn't get anything going in the seventh, Hunziker singled to center, then stole second base. After Cole Theissen sacrificed him to third, Flippin reached on an error to score the go-ahead run.
Earlier in the afternoon, Flippin led the team in its win over Osage, batting 2-for-2 with a home run, two RBI and two walks. Jones also had a home run, both coming in an eight-run fourth inning. Jones was 3-for-4 from the plate with three RBI.
"That was huge," Hoecker said of the home runs. "That first round through the lineup we were a little off-balance. We weren't seeing the ball the way we should of. We made some good adjustments and those two shots really showed it."
Osage jumped up 1-0 after the first inning, and made it 3-2 in the top of the fourth before Jamestown exploded for the eight runs in its half of the inning.
Colton DeVore led off with a single, then Jones sent a shot over the left field fence. After a strike out and a single by Theissen, Flippin homered to left as well. Gerlach and Wolfe followed that up with two straight singles, and Christian DeVore walked, before Colton DeVore went to bat for his second time in the inning. His single scored two runs, pushing the Eagle lead to 8-3. Jones singled to center during the next at-bat to make it a 10-3 game.
While the score seemed like an easy win, Jamestown had to overcome early errors, and they did just that.
"We always want to clean up those, but as a whole, I'm really proud of the guys and how they played," Hoecker said. "We had a couple of errors, but we also had a couple plus-plays."
In the 5-3 win over M.M.A. Friday, Jamestown scored in four straight innings to stay ahead.
Evan Knierim led off the second inning with a home run, and Wolfe's ground out to third in the third inning scored Theissen to give the Eagles a 2-0 lead. After M.M.A. cut it to 2-1 in the bottom of the third, Jamestown put two runs on the board in the fourth.
A balk scored Colton DeVore and moved Wyatt Hunziker to second, then Theissen and Flippin walked to load the bases. Gerlach was then hit by a pitch to plate another run to give the Eagles the 4-1 lead. In the fifth, Jones singled to right scored Christian DeVore to make it 5-2.
Jamestown (13-3) will host New Franklin on Wednesday at 5 p.m., then travel to California on Thursday at the same time. This record does not include the home game against Prairie Home on Monday.