DICKINSON, N.D. - The No. 6 seed La Sierra baseball team faced No. 2 seed University of Jamestown in the second round of the North Star Athletic Association Championship Tournament at Dakota Community Bank & Trust Ballpark in Dickinson, North Dakota where they soared to victory in a nail biting 4-3 walk-off win.
Ryan Cole carried the Golden Eagles on the mound today going 8 innings with 5 strikeouts and only one walk. He totaled 104 pitches for a 2.25 ERA.
Dean Samuel was the Golden Eagles hero today. He brought in all four of the Golden Eagles runs with a three run blast in the bottom of the third, and an RBI single to score the winning run in the walk-off win.
La Sierra secured home team advantage in this game which proved to work in their favor. The Jimmies led off the game with a first inning run, but ran themselves out of additional opportunities with being caught stealing third. The Golden Eagles had a one, two, three inning for their at bats.
Cole gave up a walk and a hit, but defensive plays from Matthew Pontes and Stephen Chavez kept runs from crossing the plate. Chavezs' high IQ on the field led to getting the lead runner out at third on a ground ball. Jamestown offered aggressive baserunning which favored La Sierra with Gavin Copeland throwing out another runner. Golden Eagles bats still remained quiet in the second.
Cole finally settled in with a one, two, three inning of his own to get his team back up to bat. Copeland led off the inning with a single to right, and Trevor Smentek took over for him on the bases. A strikeout from Colin Mitchell and a fly ball from Jose Leon put two outs on the board. Smentek stole second to get into scoring position for Bobby Benavidez, but the Jimmies intentionally walked the star center fielder to bring up Samuel. Samuel made the Jimmies pay for this decision and went yard to right field to take the lead.
Neither team scored in the fourth inning. Jamestown added two runs across the fifth and sixth innings, and La Sierra was unable to answer back. With the game now tied we headed into the seventh.
Cole put up a four pitch seventh inning with both the seventh and eighth being one, two, three innings to silence the Jimmies. La Sierra added two hits from Colin Mitchell and Ethan Gibbs across the two innings, but could not produce a run.
Cole headed to the mound for the top of the ninth, and faced one batter who singled before Nico Masucci came in for relief. The outstanding outing from Cole kept the Golden Eagles in the game. The Jimmies batter running into his batted ball offered the first out of the inning. This kept the runner at first to set up the inning ending 4-6-3 double play.
Copeland led off the inning with a single to left. Smentek took over running at first. Christian Navarro got his second pinch hit appearance of the tournament and was hit in the back. Mitchell re-entered the game at first. Leon struck out, and Benavidez was also hit by a pitch. Bases loaded and one out brought up Jamestown heartbreaker Dean Samuel. A knock to center field brought in Smentek, and the Golden Eagles earned the win.
The No. 6 seed Golden Eagles (20-19) stay alive for another day of play and will retake the field Saturday, May 3 at 8:45 MT (7:45 PT). They will play against either fellow Cal Pac opponent No. 4 seed Simpson University (21-26) or No. 1 seed Bellevue University (37-13).
Follow the link below for more tournament information, live stream, and live stats;
https://playnorthstar.com/news/2025/4/28/2025-nsaa-baseball-postseason-tournament-pairings-announced.aspx
