The Alaska Goldpanners returned to Growden Memorial Park on Friday for their first home games in nearly two weeks, beating the Ventura County Pirates twice in one evening despite recording fewer hits in both games.
Because of a Fourth of July rainout the day before, the Goldpanners played two seven-inning games as part of a doubleheader to open their series against the Pirates.
(Game 1) Goldpanners: 6, Pirates: 3
The Goldpanners’ ace, Treyson Peters, started the first game on Friday, but the ‘Panners found themselves in a quick hole when DJ Akiyama hit a two-run homer that scored Ethan Kearney as well after the latter got on base with a single. Peters followed with back-to-back strikeouts and then another after allowing one more Pirate on base.
It didn’t take long for the ‘Panners to mount a response. Jacob Badawi walked, Matt Leiterman followed with a single and Mikey Bell sent both home with a two-RBI single. Soon after, Griffin Harrison scored Bell and Matt Chavez with a two-RBI double that the opposing left fielder couldn’t corral.
Harrison then scored thanks to an RBI single from Jesse Espinoza. Rocco Caballero made for a third Alaska batter in a row to knock the ball in play near the left field line. However, the inning ended when Badawi ground out after the ‘Panners batted around. Alaska scored its final three runs of the inning after recording two outs.
Neither team scored in the second inning, and the Pirates went three up, three down to start the third.
The ‘Panners scored without a hit in the third inning, as Harrison got on base with a walk and then stole three bases, including home plate on a passed ball.
Peters left the game after striking out the Pirates’ first batter of the fourth inning. He was replaced by one of his Gonzaga teammates, Paxton Fenberg. The Goldpanners quickly recorded two outs after the substitution, ending the inning with a leaping catch from Leiterman at first base.
Both teams also went scoreless in the fifth inning. After four innings without any runs, the Pirates cut into Goldpanners’ lead in the top of the sixth inning when Trey Thomas’ RBI groundout scored Robbie Treto.
Noah Smith pitched the final inning, as Ventura County placed runners on the corners after recording two outs in the seventh inning. A flyball to Badawi ended the game.
Fenberg recorded the win after one run relented in a little over two innings of work.
“If you pitch and play defense and then we get some hits when we need to, I’ll take our chances,” Goldpanners field manager Bret Lachemann said postgame. “If the pitchers keep giving us chances to win, we’ll win our fair share of games.”
Bell and Espinoza both went 2-for-3 at the plate, and the former had two RBIs. Harrison also posted two RBIs and led the team with two runs.
(Game 2) Goldpanners: 3, Pirates: 2
Brandon Wyland started on the mound for Alaska during the second game, and Badawi scored the only run of the opening inning when he was driven home on a sacrifice fly from Bubba Rocha.
The Goldpanners put men (Holt Williams and Alex Garcia) on base with no outs during their next trip to the plate, but the second inning ended scoreless for both sides. Both teams went three up, three down in the third inning.
Ryan Lachemann took over on the bump in the fourth inning and relented one run, as Rider Gordon drove Sean Mann in for the tie. Wade Lawson pitched for the ‘Panners from there and was credited with the win.
Alaska loaded the bases in the sixth inning, hoping to end the seven-frame game early. Garcia rewarded his teammates’ steady progress with a two-RBI single that scored Bell (who again went 2-for-3 at the plate) and Logan Wimberly for a 3-1 lead. Garcia finished the second game 3-for-3 at the plate with a triumvirate of singles and both of the team’s RBIs.
“That 0-2 pitch, he just happened to hang it and I sat back on it and took it up the middle,” Garcia, a North Pole native, said postgame.
Kearney scored again in the top of the seventh inning (he ultimately scored both of the Pirates’ runs in the second game) off an RBI from Gabe Juarez. However, Juarez was later tagged on a fielder’s choice with a teammate in scoring position and one run away from a tie. That marked the visitors’ third out and the end of the game.
The Goldpanners batted second in both games and consequently ended both games early. They’ll play the Pirates again on Saturday at 7 p.m.
“We’ve been playing pretty well,” Bret Lachemann said. “We jumped out early in the first game and then kind of didn’t hit much again until the last inning of the second game, but we played good defense and we pitched well. We’ve been playing well for a couple weeks now.”
