Pintos edge Jamestown in April 12 game

Trailing 1-0 with two outs in the top of the second inning on Tuesday night against Jamestown, California shortstop Kory Stephens hit a two-RBI single to put the Pintos ahead 2-1.

It didn’t feel like the scoring would end there, but the outstanding efforts of Eagles starter Austin Flippin and his California counterpart Cade Knipp kept the bats at bay, and the Pintos would hang on for a one-run win.

“I’m just really proud of the kids,” California head coach Matt Moulder said. “I thought they played hard, played gritty, played with some toughness, stayed mentally focused and found a way to scratch out a win.”

In a game that had the Pintos playing as the road team in their home ballpark due to a wet Jamestown field, the game’s location was far from the only oddity. Both sides experienced their share of woes on the base paths, and both Flippin and Knipp were able to take advantage of the miscues and strand runners on the mound.

“When you’re facing a good pitcher like we were today, I kind of like being the visitors and seeing if you can jump on him early before he gets settled in and gets comfortable,” Moulder said. “We didn’t get him in the first inning, but we got him in the second for a couple. (Flippin) is very good and we didn’t do a great job hitting him, but we got just enough.”

With a lineup most potent at the top of the order, the Eagles soared out to the initial lead thanks to catcher Christian DeVore. After a single to leadoff the first inning, some good baserunning from DeVore saw him come around to score two batters later to fire the game’s opening salvo.

The Pintos would respond immediately in the top half of the second when Jackson Trachsel and Jacob Wolken started off the inning with a pair of singles. Senior Greg Schroeter would get on base two batters later with a single of his own, which loaded the bases for Stephens, who ripped the go-ahead single into straight center to plate Trachsel and Wolken.

“I didn’t think that would be the end of it,” Moulder said. “I thought it’d probably end up 4-3 and both teams would scratch out a couple more, but it just showed the quality of two good pitchers going right at each other and both teams competing hard and not giving in.”

Though Flippin’s final line included a loss for the game, it also included a complete seven innings, seven strikeouts and only five hits allowed, which on most days is good enough to pick up the win.

“We were in that game because Flippin pitched a heck of a game,” Jamestown head coach Jordan Hoecker said. “He was out there and he was battling. He didn’t have his best stuff today and he’ll be the first one to tell you that, but he pitched through it and stranded a lot of their guys and worked through it.”

On the California side, Knipp went six and one-third, striking out six and allowing five hits. His one run allowed was unearned. Senior Landon Mouse came on to finish the job for Knipp with the tying run standing on first. After getting a quick flyout for the second out, the drama then ramped up when Jamestown loaded the bases after an intentional walk to Garrett Wolfe and a single to Colton DeVore. But Mouse held together on the mound and was able to get the ground ball he needed on the next at-bat to earn the save.

“(Cade’s) not going to dazzle you with velocity, but he does a great job changing speeds and moving the ball around a little bit, and he’s got that left-handed delivery that some kids seem to have problems with,” Moulder said.

Both teams have a busy week to follow. The Pintos (7-4) will look to carry their momentum into the Calvary Lutheran/New Bloomfield Invitational, while the Eagles (3-5) have four games remaining this week and will hope to improve upon some things moving forward.

“We had some things we could have cleared up,” Hoecker said. “We had some baserunning things that really killed us and that was the difference in the game. So we need to be focused out there and work on our baserunning and secondary leads.”