Falling behind 2-0 in the opening frame, the Goldpanners took the lead back with a three-run second inning. It was highlighted by a two-out, two-RBI triple by Dominic Hughes.

Ian Torpey had his best outing since early in the season, going four-plus innings. But he took an awkward spill off the pitcher’s mound while trying to corral a comebacker in the top of the fourth inning and despite getting the next two batters he faced out on a fly ball to shortstop and a swinging strikeout on a 3-2 pitch, the injury noticeably took its toll in the top of the fifth.

He walked two batters to open the frame, then hit a batter on a two-strike pitch before yielding a single to load the bases. Torpey had a noticeable hitch to his step as he left the field, no doubt frustrating for both him and Goldpanners’ fans as before the injury he had only given up two runs on four hits as the team built a 3-2 lead.

Goldpanners field manager Mark Lindsay then called on R.J. Aranda to work out of the jam.

“I didn’t really feel any pressure,” Aranda said. “I just knew if I threw strikes I’d get out of the inning.”

While the first two batters he faced singled and walked to make it 5-3, Aranda settled down to get a popout to the second baseman, a strike out, and a 6-4 groundout on a 3-2 pitch that barely beat the runners who had left on the release.

“I’ve been put in similar positions in college,” Aranda said. “But I knew I had the team behind my back, and these situations really bring out the competitiveness.

Also responding to being down on the scoreboard were the next two Alaska batters. After Brock Rudy took one for the team with a hit by pitch, Sean Rimmer lifted a fastball up to the corner in deep left field. Of the four places it could have landed — foul territory, in-play, in the left-fielder’s glove or over the wall, it seemingly reluctantly took the latter option and cleared the wall by the slimmest of margins, tying the game at 5.

“Yeah, there was a little sense of urgency,” Rimmer said of coming to the plate down two runs in the second half of the game. “The game had been stalling for both teams, but I got a pitch I could hit and it gave us momentum, and we took the lead from there.”

In their seemingly nightly post-”Happy Boy,” bottom-of-the-seventh-inning surge, the Panners took a 7-5 lead. Caleb Millikan led off with a perfectly placed bunt single that died on the third-base line, then stole second base and scored on an RBI single by Marty Munoz. Brock Rudy, who walked with one out, scored on a fielder’s choice by Tate Shimao.

The third Fort Wainwright soldier to assist the Seals — who were rocked by a series of positive Covid-19 tests before traveling to Fairbanks — this weekend was Logan Wimberly. He is assigned to Goldpanners’ pitcher and West Point graduate Logan Smith’s unit.

Aranda threw scoreless innings in the sixth and seventh —abetted by an on-target throw to home by Rudy to gun down a runner and a sharply turned 6-4-3 double play initiated by Munoz. Ramon Padilla and Matthew Pinal closed out the game with a scoreless inning each.

Contact sports editor Jeff Olsen at 907-459-7530 or jolsen@newsminer.com.