Jul 4, 2025
Jamestown’s Blake Herman somehow avoids being hit by a pitch during Thursday’s Perfect Game Collegiate Baseball League victory over Niagara at Diethrick Park. OBSERVER photo by Scott Kindberg
JAMESTOWN — Jamestown manager Frank Jagoda and his team headed into the holiday weekend feeling pretty about themselves.
Five-game winning streaks have a tendency to do that.
Justin Bremner smacked a pair of doubles and drove in two runs and Lakewood native Jameson Walsh worked a perfect ninth inning to highlight the Tarp Skunks’ 9-4 victory over Niagara in a Perfect Game Collegiate Baseball League contest before a delighted crowd of 2,547 at Diethrick Park on Thursday night.
The win raised Jamestown’s record to 15-10, trailing first-place Niagara Falls by two games and both second-place Batavia and Auburn by one game in the West Division standings. The Ironbacks, meanwhile, fell to 3-21 and remained in the division basement.
“First and foremost, the players have stuck with it,” Jagoda said. “We had a lot of adversity early (with) a really tough schedule and a lot of tough travel mixed in there. I think what we’ve done is we’ve simplified the game a little bit. We still want to clean it up some in different areas, but we’ve done a better job of gelling together as a team.”
For most of the evening, which also featured postgame fireworks, everything was looking up for Jamestown, which has won 7 of its last 10 games.
The hosts, who trailed 1-0 after half an inning, essentially put the game out of reach by scoring two runs in the first and third innings, three in the fourth and two more in the fifth to build their advantage to 9-1.
Niagara added a run — without the benefit of a hit — in the sixth inning and two more in a messy eighth to pull within 9-4, but Walsh, a 2024 Southwestern High School graduate, struck out two of the three batters he faced in a clean top of the ninth inning to seal the win for the Tarp Skunks.
“Jameson did a really good job coming in,” Jagoda said of the right-hander who threw 15 pitches to record the three outs. “We had to stop the bleeding a little bit. … That’s a big opportunity in a big spot for him. … Three up, three down.”
Joining Bremner with two hits for Jamestown was Brady Marshall.
“(Bremner) has done it all season for us,” Jagoda said. “He did a really good job tonight in big spots.”
Jakob Haynes, Marshall and Dom Costello drove in a run apiece for the winners in support of Jase Rutkowski (1-0), one of six Jamestown pitchers, who earned the win in relief.
Gowanda native Blake Herman batted fifth in the lineup and played left field. In four plate appearances, he struck out, lined out, walked and scored, and flew out.
“Blake’s a good baseball player,” Jagoda said. “Canisius (University) is getting an athlete with a lot of position versatility. He has no fear, which is a good thing to see.”
NOTES: For the Ironbacks, Alex Kean and Devan Madore both had two hits and they each drove in a run. … Ethan Catney-Forbes (0-4) suffered the loss. … … The Tarp Skunks are back in action tonight at Niagara. Hunter Bell will get the start. On Sunday, they return home for a doubleheader against Newark. The first game is set for 4 p.m.
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