Says who?

Their coach, Jordan Basile, that’s who.

Kieran Gagnon belted a two-run home run in the bottom of the third inning of the second game of Wednesday’s doubleheader to give Jamestown the lead for good en route to a 7-5 victory over Newark that completed a twin bill sweep.

“At the halfway point of the season where a lot of the teams go one direction or another, we’re going in the right direction,” he said. “That’s what we’ve been hoping for.”

Jamestown celebrates a Kieran Gagnon (22) home run in the second game of the doubleheader. Times Observer Photo by Scott Kindberg

Frank Villella earned the win in the nightcap, pitching four innings of one-run ball to raise his record to 3-1. Jason Masick worked the final inning to record his first save. By virtue of their two victories — the Tarp Skunks won the opener 4-3 — they improved their record to 17-9-1 in the West Division and remain in second place, just behind Batavia (20-9).

It should be quite a race for the division title in the final 2 1/2 weeks of the regular season.

“We’re confident we’re going to get in (the playoffs),” Basile said, “but we want a home playoff game and we want to win the division.”

Continued stellar play should help.

Jamestown began the day with a strong pitching performance from starter Ryan Bilka in the opener. The right-hander from Wagner College allowed three hits in five shutout innings and left with a 4-0 lead, courtesy of an RBI double by Evan Fragela in the second inning, an RBI double by Luc Fuller in the fourth and a pair of run-scoring singles by Aiden Dunlap and Jake Kernodle in the fifth.

Jamestown’s Alex Ahlstrom steals second base during the first game of a doubleheader against Newark on Wednesday. Times Observer Photo by Scott Kindberg

The Pilots rallied for three runs in the sixth, courtesy of three hits, a sacrifice fly and an error, but Joe Reitebach came on in the top of the seventh to retire the side and earn his first save.

Kernodle, Fragela and Dunlap each had two hits for the Tarp Skunks in Game 1, during which the team was credited with five stolen bases, including two by Gagnon.

“Personally, it’s the way I’ve always played the game,” Basile said of his aggressiveness on the bases. ” … Now that I’m not able to run the bases anymore, I try to teach that to the guys and, luckily, we have a lot of team speed, which makes me look good.”

Tatsunori Negishi had three hits in the opener, while Harris McReynolds added two. John Sanchez (0-1), one of three Newark pitchers, took the loss.

In the second game, the Tarp Skunks trailed 3-2 after two innings, but Gagnon’s towering two-run home run over the left-field fence in the bottom of the third, which also scored Tommy Googins, put Jamestown in the lead to stay.

“That was huge,” Basile said of Gagnon’s homer. “If Kieran doesn’t hit that ball, you don’t know how that game is going to go. That was a big swing.”

Gagnon collected two of the Tarp Skunks’ five hits. Jamestown also continued to show its aggressiveness on the basepaths with four more stolen bases, improving its total for the doubleheader to nine.

Negishi added thee more hits for the Pilots to finish the day 6-for-7. Teammate Michael Flaherty also had three hits, Jack Arcamone and Michael Mugan added two apiece, and Tim Wagner chipped in a double.

NOTES: The PGCBL announced its midseason All-Star awards late Wednesday afternoon and three Tarp Skunks were honored in recognition of their performance during the first half of the season. The Jamestown players selected were infielder Grady Mee (Western Michigan), outfielder Brayden Johnson (Western Kentucky) and Bilka. A total of 56 players — 28 from the East Division and 28 from the West Division — were chosen by the league’s administration based on statistics from opening day through July 5. … Jamestown is off today before concluding the week with home games against Auburn and Niagara on Friday and Saturday respectively.