WILLISTON – The pitching was decent and the defense was good for the Jamestown Eagles in the 2025 AA Legion state tournament.  But there simply weren’t enough runs.

Minot held off Jamestown 4-2 Wednesday in an elimination game at Williston State College’s Phil Rabon Field.

Jamestown (13-35), who had dropped a first-round game 4-3 on Monday to Williston, was limited to three hits in this game against Minot starter Nick Thomas (7-2), who overcame four walks with the help of two sparkling defensive plays.

Minot (32-16) pushed across the game’s first run in the second inning.  Carson Deaver walked, then was erased on a force out ground ball by Oliver Deschamp.  A double by Drew Jordan put two in scoring position for the Vistas, then a wild pitch by Eagles’ starter Jaxon Kolpin (2-6) plated Deaver.

In the Minot third, a Kolpin walk, this time to Tre Stewart, again started a rally.  Kellan Burke singled, Brody Mueller bunted both runners over and Braden Nelson slapped an RBI single to left for a 2-0 lead for the Vistas.

Those defensive gems by Minot stopped Jamestown rallies cold in the fourth and fifth innings.  With a runner on first and one out in the fourth, Kolpin hit a hard grounder wide of third, where third baseman Tegan Schindler started a double play on where Kolpin was just barely retired at first.  In the fifth, with a runner on second and one out, Cody Busch hit a sharp grounder up the middle.  Tre Stewart, coming from short, made a dive behind second base to throw out Busch, saving a hit and likely a run.  Jamestown didn’t score in the frame.

Tre Stewart then walked to start the Minot fifth before Kellan Burke slammed a home run down the right field line, his ninth of the season, to extend the Vistas’ lead to 4-0.

The Eagles tallied two in the sixth, but a base running mistake cost them a chance for more.  Bases were loaded with one out after Thomas Newman was hit by pitch, Kale Verke singled and Bennett Goehner also singled.  Kolpin then hit a solid single to right center to score Newman and Verke.  Mueller fumbled a cutoff throw, but kept the ball in front of him as Kolpin was thrown out trying to reach second base for the second out.  Ethan Oettle grounded out to end the threat and Minot led 4-2.

Tre Stewart was brought in for Minot to pitch the seventh inning and struck out Nolan Maulding, Busch and Brenner Weber to end the Eagles’ season with their sixth straight loss.

Thomas allowed two runs and three hits with a strikeout and four walks.  Kolpin yielded four runs and six hits with three strikeouts and four walks.

Jamestown, after committing 111 errors during the regular season, had none in the state tournament in 13 defensive innings.