EUGENE, Mo. - With the game tied at 1, Jamestown put two runners on base with no outs in the sixth inning before Eugene's Travis Rush was able to get the next three batters to end the threat.
The Eagles brought the momentum into the dugout and Eugene was able to push across a run in the bottom half of its inning, then held Jamestown in the seventh to escape with a 2-1 win.
"We got into a tight spot in a 1-1 game, and our guys just didn't give up," Eugene coach Mark Richard said. "They just stayed in it and made the plays that they needed to make."
In the top of the sixth, Russellville's Garrett Wolfe singled to center field to lead off the inning and Christian DeVore reached on an error, with Wolfe advancing to third to put runners on the corners with no outs. After a flyout, DeVore stole second, but a strikeout and another flyout ended the threat.
"Give my pitcher a lot of credit," Richard said. "He got them to hit the pitches they needed to hit to get out of the inning."
Brent Adrian led off Eugene's half of the inning with a line drive to center and moved to second after a swinging bunt by Nolan Wunderlich. After attempting a bunt on the first pitch, Wunderlich took a swing at the next pitch in the zone, hitting a soft ground ball to the pitcher.
"It wasn't exactly the type of bunt we wanted to see, but it got the job done," Richard said.
Adrian advanced to third on a wild pitch, then scored when Loren Belshe grounded out to second for a 2-1 lead.
Rush started on the mound for Eugene, giving up one earned run on seven hits. He struck out five and allowed a home run in the fourth inning, a blast over the left-field fence by Evan Knierim that gave Jamestown a 1-0 lead.
"The kid hit a pitch that Travis knows he shouldn't have thrown," Richard said, "but he stayed mentally strong and really pushed through it."
Wunderlich recorded the save, getting two quick outs in the seventh before allowing a hit to Austin Flippin. Wunderlich was able to catch Flippin trying to steal second for the game-ending out.
"(Wunderlich's) just got a bulldog mentality," Richard said. "He knows what his job is, and he gets on the mound and does it."
Wolfe started for Jamestown, pitching six innings and giving up two earned runs on five hits.
"He's got a bright future," Richard said. "To keep his head in a game like that says something about the kid. You can tell he's played a lot of baseball and someone taught him the right way to play the game."
Despite giving up the home run in the top half of the fourth, Eugene was able to answer in the bottom half. Wunderlich doubled to center with one out and scored off a Rush single up the middle to tie it.
Jamestown had its chances to score throughout the game. In the second inning, the Eagles had runners on first and second base with no outs, but had a runner thrown out on a force play at third after a shallow fly ball to left field found the grass. The next batter flied out to center, but the runners were in motion, and a double play ended the inning.
Also, the Eagles left a runner on second base in the third inning and left two on base in the fifth. In total, Jamestown stranded six runners and was 1-for-7 with runners in scoring position.
"We've been really good at hitting with runners in scoring position, and sometimes that's just going to average out," Jamestown coach Jordan Hoecker said. "Today wasn't our day at the plate. We need to make sure we're centering the ball better."
Rush led the offense for Eugene, batting 2-for-2 with one RBI, and Jamestown's Knierim was 2-for-3 with one RBI.
This was the second example of late-inning heroics in as many days for Eugene. Down 6-2 in the sixth to New Bloomfield on Wednesday, the Eagles came back to win it 7-6.
"We must be a late-inning rallying team," Richard said. "I'm just proud they're not giving up."
Eugene junior varsity won its game over Jamestown 5-3.
Eugene (8-5) is back in action Tuesday, traveling to Versailles for a 5 p.m. contest.
Jamestown (9-2) will host Pilot Grove today at 5 p.m., a rematch of an April 6 game that saw Jamestown suffer its first loss.