Dunkirk native Peyton Ahlstrom and the Jamestown Tarp Skunks wrapped up their Perfect Game Collegiate Baseball League season with a 19-25 record and a first round exit in the playoffs.
OBSERVER File Photo
The Jamestown Tarp Skunks hovered around the .500 mark all summer before finishing up their Perfect Game Collegiate Baseball League season with a 19-25 record.
While that below-.500 mark was good enough to secure the No. 4 seed in the West Division heading into the playoffs, it was six games behind the Elmira Pioneers and Auburn Doubledays, who tied for second in the division. It was also a full 16 games behind the first-place Batavia Muckdogs, who went 34-8.
While Jamestown experienced some success against the Muckdogs during the regular season, it came as little surprise when Batavia eliminated the Tarp Skunks in their playoff game.
The Muckdogs ended up losing the West Division final to Elmira before the East Division-champion Amsterdam Mohawks swept a two-game series from the Pioneers for the league title.
With the summer season wrapped up, it’s time to look back at Jamestown’s statistics to see what the Tarp Skunks did well and what they didn’t the past two months.
——
Jamestown finished in the bottom half of the league — 12th out of 16 teams — with 202 runs scored, despite a batting average of .258 that ranked the Tarp Skunks seventh. Amsterdam led the way in both categories with 357 runs scored and a .319 average that was more than 50 points better than second-place Saugerties.
While Jamestown was fourth in hits with 366, just 63 went for extra bases, including 55 doubles, five triples and three home runs. The low number of round-trippers can be partially attributed to the spacious Diethrick Park that the Tarp Skunks play in for their home games, but that extra room would usually equate to more doubles and triples.
Jamestown’s slugging percentage was just .310, which was fourth worst in the league. For comparison’s sake, the Mohawks had a .469 slugging percentage with 101 doubles, 18 triples and 21 home runs.
The Tarp Skunks did limit their strikeouts at the plate, going down just 273 times in 1,419 at-bats, but were last in the league in stolen bases with 49, while Elmira stole 136 bases.
Jamestown’s on-base plus slugging percentage — a relatively new measure of damage done at the plate — was .682, which was 13th out of the 16 PGCBL teams. Again, Amsterdam led the way with a .913 OPS.
On the mound, the Tarp Skunks were in the lower half of the league in a number of statistics. Glens Falls had the worst earned run average in the league at 8.25 and Boonville also allowed more than eight runs per game at 8.04. Jamestown was 10th with a 5.44 ERA.
Tarp Skunks pitchers allowed opposing batters to hit .262, which was also 10th in the league. They did a better job of limiting damage with the sixth-best slugging percentage allowed at .324, but their WHIP — number of baserunners allowed per inning — was just ninth at 1.63.
Tarp Skunks pitchers tied the Geneva Red Wings for the best in the league at limiting home runs with just two allowed and they were fairly good at limiting walks, tying for sixth best, but they hit 87 batters, which was the worst in the league.
Defensively, Jamestown was sixth in the league with a .961 fielding percentage, committing 59 errors.
——
Individually, Kobe Jones was the Tarp Skunks’ best hitter, finishing 12th with a .341 batting average. The Shorter University outfielder had 43 hits in 126 at-bats, including nine doubles. He drove in 11 runs and struck out just 13 times, while finishing second on the team with 21 runs scored.
Outfielder Henry Juan finished second on the team in hitting with a .309 average. The Williams College product collected 30 hits in 97 at-bats, including five doubles and a triple.
Bobby Stang was the Tarp Skunks’ most feared hitter in the middle of their lineup for most of the season. The first baseman/catcher who is transferring to the University of Dayton this fall, hit .305 with seven doubles, a triple and a home run, while driving in a team-best 19 runs.
Jamestown’s only other regular who hit over .300 was Eli Harpalani, who finished at .302. The Catawba Valley Community College utilityman had 19 hits in 63 at-bats and struck out just nine times.
On the mound, Gage Hayes was by far Jamestown’s most impressive starting pitcher. The Drury University right-hander went 5-1 in eight starts with a 1.92 ERA and 43 strikeouts in 46 2/3 innings.
Hayden Givens-Craig, who finished with the team’s second-most innings pitched (39 1/3), went 1-1 with a 3.20 ERA. Givens-Craig picked up three saves and struck out 33 in his 12 appearances.
Sam Hough (Bates College) also tossed 39 1 /3 innings, striking out 26 while pitching to a 5.94 ERA.
——
Jamestown’s 19-25 record this summer was the organization’s worst since joining the PGCBL in the summer of 2016. In 2022, the Tarp Skunks finished with a sixth-place 21-24 record to miss the playoffs for the only summer in the past seven years.
In 2016, Jamestown was 29-20 before losing a one-game playoff to Utica. The next two seasons, as the Jammers under former manager Anthony Barone, were the team’s most successful since moving to a summer collegiate league format. In 2017, Jamestown went 34-15 to win the West Division before losing the championship series to the Mohawk Valley DiamondDawgs 2-1. The following summer, the Jammers again won their division with a 31-14 record before exacting revenge against the DiamondDawgs with a 2-1 victory in the league championship series.
After the former ownership group left in 2019 and COVID-19 canceled the 2020 season, Jamestown Community Baseball LLC took over control. In 2021, the Tarp Skunks finished 28-15 before losing to Geneva in a one-game playoff. After missing the postseason in 2022, Jamestown finished third with a 23-18 record and lost to Elmira in a one-game playoff last summer.