Daily Archives: May 1, 2009

Coyotes sweep JHS baseball

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Jamestown’s trip west got off to a rocky start on Friday.
The Blue Jays suffered their first two losses of the season, falling 7-4 and 16-3 to Williston at Ardean Aafedt Stadium.
The Coyotes broke a 4-all tie with three runs in the bottom of the sixth in the opening game and scored early and often in Game 2 to complete the sweep.
“They exposed some of our weaknesses today,” said JHS coach Cory Anderson. “There were some things we didn’t handle very well today in terms of the wind and some of the elements.
“Sometimes when you win you have a tendency to gloss over the need for improvement in other areas. We have to learn from this, move on and get ready for Minot.”
 

More of this story in the Saturday edition of the Sun.

JC football spring game set for Saturday

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At one point, Bud Etzold didn’t know when, or if, the Jamestown College football team would be able to get its spring workouts in.
With the late-winter blizzards, the late-melting snow, the emergency sandbagging efforts and flooding issues, football took a back seat. But the Jimmies have been able to get back to work, and they’re on track to get all of their workouts in.
“With all the distractions and other things going on this spring — the snow, the sandbagging, the flooding — we’ve managed to get seven practices in. A month ago, I didn’t think we were going to get all 10 in, but it looks like we will. I’m happy with that.
“As young as we are, we need every second out there we can get.”
The Jimmies will hold their annual spring scrimmage on Saturday at Rollie Greeno Field, beginning at 10:30 a.m. After some light practice, the scrimmage will get under way around 10:45 a.m. With the scrambled schedule this spring, it won’t be the finale of spring camp — the team will work out a couple of times next week.
It will follow the same kind of format as in the past, featuring a field-position format, with a scoring system awarding points to the defense for turnovers and stopping possessions and the offense getting points for first downs, touchdowns and field goals.
Etzold is happy with what his team has gotten done so far.
“We have a lot of new faces,” he said. “I think we’re right about where we expected to be.
“We’ve been able to work in some new wrinkles on offense and defense. We’re looking at people we’re hoping to step up and take the places of some of the guys that graduated last year. I think we’ve found some of those guys.”
One of the most-watched position battles heading into the fall figures to be at quarterback, where JC is looking for a successor to former DAC MVP Josh Kittell, who threw for 5,258 yards and 47 TDs over the past two seasons.
 

More of this story in Saturday’s edition of the Sun

Jays’ Harris places fifth at Minot

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Blake Harris put together his best round of the season on Friday at the Minot Invitational.

The Jamestown High School senior earned a fifth-place finish at the second West Region outing of the season after firing a round of 78. Harris finished just four shots off the pace of medalist Peter Pomonis of Bismarck Century.

“Blake played really well. I walked the back nine with him and was able to watch him play and you’re definitely starting to see the effects of finally be able to practice outside consistently,” coach Dean Kraft said. “His ball-striking was much improved from last week to this week. Blake’s a good player. He has ability. I think he’ll just continue to get better with each meet.”

For a variety of reasons, the Blue Jays had just three golfers competing. Troy Borowicz finished with a 105 and seventh-grader Brandon Stahlhut ended at 112 in his first varsity meet. Century nipped Bismarck for team honors, 318-320.
 

The West Region heads to the Links of North Dakota for the Williston Invite today.

JC baseball team wins DAC opener

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Phil Curtis came up big for Jamestown College in the opening round of the Dakota Athletic Conference baseball tournament in Minot on Friday.

The junior from Sherwood Park, Alberta, fired a complete game five-hitter to lead the Jimmies past host Minot State 10-0 in seven innings.

Getting a first-round win is all but essential in the double-elimination tournament. With changes to the NAIA postseason format, the DAC tournament champion qualifies for the national tournament, but the league is not expected to get an at-large bid.

“We had a decent regular season, but we also realize how important getting off to a good start is in this tournament and we were able to do that,” coach Tom Hager said. “We knew coming into this tournament we were going to have to be better on the mound. A good starting pitching performance would really set the tone and that’s exactly what we got.

“Phil not only put zeroes on the board, but he was able to get out of a bunch of jams and didn’t let things snow ball and that’s what good pitchers do, they compete and find a way to minimize damage. He was outstanding today."

The Jimmies did most of their damage offensively with the long ball.

Kyle Montgomery’s three-run home run in the bottom of the third broke a scoress tie. In the bottom of the eighth, Ben Cairns’ grand slam highlighted a six-run inning.

The Jimmies face Dickinson State today at 2 p.m. The Blue Hawks beat Dakota State 8-5 in the third game of the day on Friday.

 

DAC softball tourney opens Saturday

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Dickinson State is the obvious favorite, but Jamestown College hopes to get a shot at knocking off the Blue Hawks and earning a trip to the NAIA national softball tournament.
The Blue Hawks host the Dakota Athletic Conference softball tournament, beginning on Saturday. Dickinson State (33-3) went 18-0 in the conference during the regular season and the Hawks are ranked No. 3 in the nation in the latest poll.
The Jimmies (25-18, 12-8 DAC) are the No. 2 seed for the tournament and get a first-round bye along with DSU.
No. 4 Dakota State (17-26, 7-9) takes on No. 5 Black Hills State (15-14, 6-10) in the opening round at 10 a.m. MDT, with the winner playing Dickinson at noon.
In the other opening-round game, No. 3 Minot State (23-14, 9-9) squares off with No. 6 Mayville State (9-30, 3-15), with the winner taking on JC at 12:30 p.m.
The winner of the double-elimination tournament earns a berth in the NAIA national tournament.

JC men’s basketball lands Minnesota all-stater

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Eric Shulstad of Pelican Rapids, Minn., has signed a Dakota Athletic Conference letter of intent to play basketball at Jamestown College.

Shulstad, a 6-foot-6 wing, helped lead Pelican Rapids to a 33-0 record and a Minnesota Class AA state championship during his senior season. He averaged a double double, with 18.8 points and 10.2 rebounds per game.

He scored a career-high 37 points in a game against Dilworth-Glyndon-Felton and had a career-high 22 rebounds in a single game against Hawley.

A three-year starter, Shulstad scored 1,749 points, finishing second on the school’s all-time scoring list. He grabbed 959 rebounds, making him the school’s all-time leader. He also finished with 314 assists, ranking seventh on the school’s all-time chart. He shot 54 percent from the field during his career. He was a three-time team Defensive MVP and shot 91.5 percent from the free throw line as a senior.

He was a three-time all-conference selection, a two-time Minnesota all-state honorable mention pick and a member of the all-state tournament team last season.

During his four years on the varsity, Pelican Rapids compiled a 102-24 record. They finished third in the state tournament in 2006, finished as sub-section runners-up in 2007 and 2008 and won the state title in 2009.

"I don’t know if I even need to say anything," Jimmie men’s basketball coach Jeff Trumbauer said. "If you look at his statistics, accolades and the success of the Pelican Rapids team during Eric’s time there, you have to be impressed.

"Eric is a very skilled and complete player. He can shoot, pass and handle the ball. At key times during the state tournament he ran the point guard position for his team. He is an extremely humble and unselfish person who does all the little things necessary  to win games, such as grab rebounds, dive for loose balls and play defense."