The Juneau-Douglas and Thunder Mountain High School baseball teams wrapped up Southeast Conference play on a high note.
The Crimson Bears swept a three-game series from the Sitka Wolves and the Falcons did the same against the Petersburg Vikings.
JDHS defeated Sitka 6-0, 3-2 and 4-1 in Sitka; TMHS triumphed over Petersburg 18-1, 6-1 and 8-7 at home.
Senior Kasey Watts led the Crimson Bears’ offense with a weekend total of five hits, notching home runs in the first and second contests.
Watts also threw a shutout in Friday’s game, striking out 12 batters and only allowing two hits.
In the TMHS series, the Vikings rarely held a lead. TMHS scored nine runs in the first inning and seven in the third in Friday’s game. In the second of two games on Saturday, the Falcons broke a 6-6 tie in the sixth inning as Chase Foster and Gabe Storie brought in runs.
Down 8-7, the Vikings were potentially one hit away from a walk-off in the seventh.
Pitcher Logan Lesmann walked Mattias Vulk with the bases loaded to bring in a run. The Petersburg momentum came to an abrupt halt though with the next batter, Colby Spear. Spear hit a blooper to the second baseman, who caught it and threw to first base to get the force out and double play to end the inning.
“It was an intense moment and then had an almost miraculous ending,” TMHS coach Bill McCauley said.
TMHS celebrated Senior Night prior to the game for seniors Sammy McKnight, Chandler Lewis, Jacob Tapia, Brysen Cordle, Bobby Cox, Owen Mendoza, Taylor Funderburk and Casey Hamilton.
All four teams, plus Ketchikan, who did not play this week, will gather in Sitka for the double-elimination Region V baseball tournament. The winner of the tournament will advance to the ASAA baseball state championships in Anchorage on May 31-June 2.
The action gets underway on Thursday at noon and 3 p.m. with a pair of rematches: No. 4 TMHS (5-7) and No. 5 Petersburg (0-12) play in the first game and No. 2 JDHS (9-3) and No. 3 Sitka (6-6) play in the second.
The Southeast Conference (Region V) regular season winner, Ketchikan (10-2 SEC), plays the victor of the TMHS-Petersburg game. Should the Kings win the regional tournament, the tournament runner-up will receive a state tournament berth.
