Blake Hiraki hit a scorching .667 over the past two weeks of the season, but Panners manager Mark Lindsay dismisses the idea that solid hitting is “contagious.” (Photo Alexis Friedman)
Jeff Olsen, Daily News-Miner
SALT LAKE CITY — It’s the last chance to get a few swings of the bat in before heading to the field for tomorrow’s opening day of the Marshall Gates World Series, and things don’t feel quite right for several of the Alaska Goldpanners.
“Swinging seems so easy after a long day on the plane,” says outfielder Dominic Hughes. “But it isn’t.”
The goal of this hourlong session at the Salt Lake City Community College’s impressive field is to stretch and catch, according to field manager Mark Lindsay. They’re not trying to reinvent the wheel, and as far as hitting goes, the last two weeks of Panners’ success at the plate demonstrates there’s no need to do so.
As they prepare for their Marshall Gates World Series opening game today at 10:30 a.m. (Alaska Daylight Time) against the Idaho Catch, they’ve definitely hit their stride in producing runs.
The offensive output is led by two Panners who topped .400 for the summer: Blake Hiraki’s scorching .408 in 52 at-bats since joining the team on July 10 and Brock Rudy’s astounding .406 over 35 games.
But depth is what’s driving this offense, as there are six Goldpanners – Sean Rimmer (.373), Tate Shimao (.355), Hughes (.349), Cole Alexander (.326), Caleb Millikan (.325) and Matthew Pinal (.321) – hitting over .300 with a minimum of 85 at-bats.
Hiraki has been especially hot of late, going 16 of 24 last week (.667) with eight RBI.
“I’ve got his walk-up song stuck in my head because every time I hear it, it’s followed by a barrel (hitting a ball),” Hughes joked.
“I wouldn’t say it’s contagious based on one player hitting well because our team hits so well altogether,” Lindsay said of Hiraki’s success. “But anytime you can get a catcher or the middle of the lineup producing like that it’s a good thing.
Another key factor to their rash of success is that collectively, the team thrives on not just scoring runs, but scoring runs early. In winning 14 of their last 16 games, they’ve averaged 3.7 runs over the first three innings.
“We want to get as many runs as possible as early as possible and help out our pitchers,” said Cayden Clark, a selective hitter whose .187 batting average cloaks the fact he averages 1.87 walks per game in his past eight outings. He will be playing in front of his hometown friends and family from Toole, Utah this week.
There is a bit of bad news as they approach this week’s tournament in that Rimmer – one the most consistent Panner at the plate since the season’s earliest days – is doubtful to play today and questionable for the rest of the week. A hamstring injury that has led to pressure in his lower back that was aggravated by traveling had him receiving treatment on a massage table from trainer Jim Kimbal Monday afternoon.
“We’ll see how he’s feeling tomorrow,” Lindsay said. “He took some hacks today. But we’ll see how he feels hopefully later on.”
Contact Sports Editor Jeff Olsen at (907)459-7530 or jolsen@newsminer.com
