Jimmies Close First Division II Season With 7-4 Loss to Wayne State

Jamestown’s first season in NCAA Division II ended the way too many games did: an opponent broke it open with one big inning, and the Jimmies spent the rest of the afternoon trying to claw back.

Wayne State scored five runs in the second inning and held on for a 7-4 win Saturday at the Pete Chapman Baseball/Softball Complex in Wayne, Nebraska, closing out a year that showed both the promise and the strain of Jamestown’s jump into the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference. The Jimmies finished 13-36 overall and 8-28 in league play, with a 2-5 home record, a 4-17 mark away from Jamestown and a 7-14 record in neutral-site games.

Jamestown struck first when Carlos Maldonado delivered an RBI double in the opening inning for a 1-0 lead. But Wayne State answered in the second with a five-run burst built on a string of RBI hits and a sacrifice fly, turning the game into a 6-2 deficit and forcing the Jimmies into chase mode once again. Jamestown kept pushing, later getting offense from Frankie Malagon and another Maldonado double, but the margin never fully disappeared.

The loss fit a larger pattern that defined the season. Jamestown opened 2026 with an 11-4 loss to University of Colorado Colorado Springs, when the host team scored six runs in the first inning and four in the second. From the start of the spring to the final weekend, the Jimmies were repeatedly forced to recover from early damage against established Division II competition.

Pitching reflected that challenge. Kai Mayfield took the loss against Wayne State after allowing five runs and six hits in three and two-thirds innings. Ben Patton gave Jamestown a steadier late stretch, working three and two-thirds innings and allowing one run. Even so, the Wildcats did enough to protect the lead and add an insurance run in the seventh.

The season carried added weight because it was Jamestown’s first Division II campaign after years in the NAIA. The University of Jamestown received official acceptance into NCAA Division II on July 11, 2024, with NSIC membership becoming official July 1, 2025. The Jimmies still have one remaining year of provisional status before becoming a full Division II member in the 2026-27 school year if all remaining criteria are met.

For a program now measuring itself against a deeper league and a more demanding schedule, the 2026 results offered a clear lesson: the next step will depend on deeper pitching, more consistent innings and the ability to survive the kind of second-inning surge that ended this season in Wayne.