Jamestown sweeps Mandan, climbs into tie for sixth in WDA race

Jamestown’s sweep of Mandan did more than add two wins at Jack Brown Stadium. It pushed the Blue Jays into a tie for sixth in the Western Dakota Association standings, a position that matters because the top six teams go straight to the WDA Tournament quarterfinals while seeds 7 through 10 have to survive play-in games first.

The Blue Jays handled the Mandan Braves 13-3 in six innings before following with an 8-2 win in the nightcap, a much-needed surge that lifted Jamestown to 8-8 in conference play. With six league games remaining, the sweep gave Tim Ranum’s team a clearer path to stay inside the direct-qualifying line and avoid the extra postseason round that comes with finishing outside the top six.

Game 1 turned quickly at the plate. Jamestown scored nine runs in the first inning despite collecting only two hits, drawing eight walks and forcing Mandan into an early hole it never escaped. Cody Busch delivered a two-run single in the inning, and later in the game Busch and Bennett Goehner each drove in two runs. Zach Gaiser earned the win in his second start of the season, and the Blue Jays put the game away fast enough to end it by mercy rule in six innings.

Gaiser’s line added to the value of the opener for Jamestown’s late-season push. He threw six innings and allowed three runs, only one earned, on eight hits, two walks and one strikeout. In a stretch run where every conference game carries weight, that kind of quick, decisive result can matter as much as the final score.

The second game was tighter until Jamestown opened it up in the fifth inning. Shane Martin worked a complete game on the mound, while Busch drove in the go-ahead run with a groundout before Brady Nenow followed with the Blue Jays’ second home run of the season, a two-run shot to left. A wild pitch sequence also helped Jamestown add insurance runs as it finished off the sweep.

The timing made the result even bigger. Jamestown had just swept Watford City 13-2 and 16-6 on April 30, and the back-to-back doubleheaders have put the Blue Jays in position to make a real climb in May. The Mandan sweep also carried extra weight against a conference rival that beat Jamestown in a 2024 doubleheader, 5-4 and 16-1, before Jamestown took the first game of a 2025 twin bill 7-3. Now, with the standings tightening and the postseason line in sight, the Blue Jays have momentum, production from Busch and Nenow, and the kind of pitching finish from Gaiser and Martin that can shape the rest of the race.