Thursday afternoon’s nonleague baseball matchup between visiting Fredonia and host Jamestown provided a pair of strong pitching performances at the Martin Road Complex.

Veteran experience was the difference maker in the end, as Bryce Jackson struck out 16 batters and received four runs of support in the sixth inning to lift Jamestown (2-3, 1-3 ECIC Division 1) to a 5-1 win over the Hillbillies (5-3, 4-0 CCAA 1 West).

“From Bryce I was hoping for that (performance),” Jamestown coach Dave Roehmholdt said. “He has been throwing well. We have been off for a week and we don’t come back until next Tuesday, so this was a nice day for him to get ready for next week.”

Leading the visitors on the hill through five innings was freshman Nick Whitfield. The underclassman held his own in the duel against Jackson before getting into trouble in the sixth.

“We were a little surprised they went at us with (Jackson), but it was a great experience on our part,” said Fredonia coach Vince Gullo. “He is a really solid pitcher and I’m happy with our kid’s at bats. He had quite a few strikeouts but we didn’t look intimidated. We were getting our cuts in there.”

Jackson and Whitfield (five strikeouts, eight walks) breezed way through the first two innings without incident, despite the fact that Jamestown’s Chris Beardsley was able to get to first on a walk and steal second before being thrown out trying to steal third.

In the top of the third inning, Whitfield reached on an error and Gabe Schrader singled. With Whitfield in scoring position, he scored on a passed ball, but Jackson was able to retire Jake Davis looking on a third strike to get out of trouble.

Jamestown threatened to even the score as Whitfield walked a pair of batters in the bottom half of the third, but the freshman got out of that jam with a nice pickoff at first base for the third out.

In the bottom of the fifth, Jamestown got the bats going as Brennan Roehmholdt smacked a single up the middle and he later scored as Josh Tonkin belted a line drive double down the third-base line to make it 1-1. The Red Raiders threatened to take the lead after that when Whitfield issued another base on balls before forcing a pop up to end the threat.

“We threw a freshman on the mound and Nick has come a long ways. He is probably our No. 2. It was a great experience. I think our defense played outstanding all game,” said Gullo.

With things all even, Jamestown picked the right time to capitalize on mistakes in the bottom of the sixth.

Christian Dolce was able to rip a grounder through the infield, forcing a difficult throw from third base that missed its mark at first. That bad toss granted Dolce passage to second, while a passed ball put the senior at third.

From there, another single by Peyton Olson made it 2-1 for the Red Raiders, prompting a pitching change from Gullo.

After Josh Loomis was walked by closer Anthony Gullo, Jamestown loaded the bases on a slick bunt from Brennan Roehmholdt. From there, an RBI double by Beardsley, another run on an error and a fielder’s choice gave Jamestown its final three runs of the day.

“We were kind of flat early, didn’t get the hits we needed early,” said Jamestown head coach Dave Roehmholdt “They gave us some chances with some baserunners and we just couldn’t cash them in, so to come through at the end like that was big.”

Jackson continued his hot throwing down the stretch, fanning Whitfield for the final out of the afternoon.

“I wasn’t sure who they were going to throw,” Coach Roehmholdt said. ” They aren’t in our league so I wasn’t exactly sure what the staff is. (Whitfield) threw great and they have been playing very well.”

Jamestown will meet Williamsville North for a home game on Tuesday at 5:30 p.m. and an away contest on Wednesday while Fredonia will travel to meet Frontier today at noon.