Three-peat

The Jamestown Elks saved their best baseball of the summer for the right time.

The two-time defending Class AAA champions made it three state tournament titles in a row with a smooth 3-0 run through the field, capped by Sunday's 8-1 win over the Mayville Redcaps at Jack Brown Stadium.

After outscoring their three opponents 20-4, there wasn't much doubt about who was the top team this weekend.

"It's kind of been an up and down year for us, but things clicked this weekend," said Elks manager Boya Quichocho, a key member of the last three Elks championship teams. "We definitely take pride in wearing these Elks uniforms. Obviously, without the Elks Club this wouldn't be possible. They really support us and allow us to come out here and play."

After a no-hitter from Tony Fagan, and a solid 8-inning outing by Ben Watkins on Saturday, another current Jimmie -- Paul Roers -- was in command Sunday.

The tall, lanky right-hander from Moorhead went the distance, getting plenty offensive support along the way.

Already up 2-0, the Elks put it out of reach in the top of the sixth. They batted around in the inning, with Nick Meehan's 2-run single finishing off the frame and pushing their lead to 6-1.

"We come here as Jimmies, but go out as Elks, and they're both very special teams to play for," said Meehan, who had another 2-hit day. "Wearing this Elks uniform is a big deal. You'll see other people out in the community who played for the Elks and they'll tell you, 'Good luck,' and things like that. That reminds you of what we're playing for.

"We're very excited to carry on the winning tradition of the Elks."

Griffin Sweazey singled to start the decisive top of the sixth inning and was bunted to second by Quichocho. Tim Spivey followed with a single, moving Sweazey to third. Mitch Stevens brought Sweazey in with a sacrifice fly to right.

Eighth and ninth-hole hitters Kyle Mayer and Matt Achter kept it going with singles to load the bases.

Leadoff man Spencer Flaten walked to force in a run and Meehan was next and lined a single back up the middle, scoring two.

"We started off the season great. We won two tournaments and were undefeated for quite a while, but in the middle of the season we didn't have all of our guys and kind of struggled," Meehan said. "But when we had our whole team in tact, we were a good baseball team and that's what we showed in this tournament."

The strong pitching was huge, too. Roers allowed eight singles, walked just one and fanned two of the last three batters of the game.

"When your pitchers don't give up many runs, that gives you a really good chance to be successful," said Quichocho, the senior member of the Elks, but it hardly showed as he ripped line drives all over the park all weekend long. "Playing with these guys keeps me feeling young. But when I get home (tonight), I'm not going to be feeling very young. I guarantee you that."

Christian Berry, Brock Gnadt and Dan Bauer each singled twice for the Redcaps, who went 2-2 in the tournament.

The Elks piled up 15 hits. Mayer had three of them, including an RBI single in the first inning to bring in Sweazey with the first run of the game. Sweazey and Tim Spivey also had two.

Redcaps 6, Expos 2

Mayville earned its spot in the championship game with a workmanlike 6-2 win over the Fargo Expos.

Jace Ingebretson worked the first five innings and lefty Dan Quinn was light's out over the final four frames.

Quinn entered with the Redcaps leading 5-2 and he held the Expos off the board the rest of the way.

Mayville struck quick on Matt Chandler's 2-run double that chased in Alex and Christian Berry for an early 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first.

Up 3-1, Chandler and Bauer strung back-to-back RBI-singles together to push the lead to 5-1 after five innings.

Quinn faced just two batters over the minimum over the final four innings, allowing just a walk that was erased on a seventh-inning double play, and two ninth-inning singles. The singles in the ninth were wiped on an unusual second-to-shortstop-to-first base-to catcher triple play to end the game.

Quinn saved it for Ingebretson, who earned a save in the Redcaps elimination-game win over the top-seeded Jamestown Miller Lite Merchants on Saturday.

Ryan Krause doubled and had two hits to pace the Expos.

Class AAA State Amateur Baseball Tournament

At Jack Brown Stadium

Loser out

Mayville Redcaps 6, Fargo Expos 2

Expos 001 010 000 -- 2 6 1

Redcaps 200 120 10x -- 6 9 3

Todd McDonald and Ryan Krause. Jace Ingebretson, Dan Quinn (6) and Todd Paulson. W--Ingebretson. L--McDonald. Save--Quinn. 2B--Expos, Ryan Krause. Redcaps, Matt Chandler, Mickey Berry, Spencer Braun, Dan Bauer.

Championship

Jamestown Elks 8, Mayville Redcaps 1

Elks 011 004 101 -- 8 15 0

Redcaps 000 001 000 -- 1 8 1

Paul Roers and Griffin Sweazey. Sam Hirchert, Brandon Weber (6) and Todd Paulson. W--Roers. L--Hirchert. 2B--Elks, Boya Quichocho.

Sun sports editor Dave Selvig can be reached at (701) 952-8460 or by e-mail at daves@jamestownsun.com