Juneau’s Auke Bay Post 25 split a pair of road games in Anchorage this week, defeating West Post 1 on Monday 13-3 and falling to Service Post 28 in a 2-1 pitching duel on Tuesday.
Juneau’s pitching staff ruled the Anchorage fields.
“The pitching staff did their job,” Auke Bay Post 25 head coach Joe Tompkins said. “We were expecting a double header against West so (we) were piecing together the rotation but the schedule changed and we had just the one game.”
Against West, Juneau’s Cayman Huff started and went two innings, allowing just two hits and one run (1 earned run) and walked one batter. Lamar Blatnick relieved (2 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 1 strikeout) and Micah Nelson closed (3 IP, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 1 SO).
“They came in and pitched a heck of a game,” Tompkins said. “I can’t complain at all. The three of them worked the count in their favor every time.”
Juneau took control in their game against West with four runs in the fourth inning as Madden Mendoza led off with a double and scored on a single by Blatnick. Noah Lewis singled to score Blatnick. Lewis stole second base as Micah Nelson earned a walk and both advanced another base on a steal. Marcus Mendoza hit a sacrifice fly to score Lewis, and Keaton Belcourt singled to score Nelson.
Juneau would add a run in the fourth inning, two in the fifth, five in the sixth and another in the seventh.
Madden Mendoza, Blatnick, M. Nelson and Marcus Mendoza led with three hits each. Marcus Mendoza had four RBI, Blatnick three, and Lewis and Belcourt two apiece. Madden Mendoza, Blatnick and M. Nelson scored three runs each, Lewis two, and Kasen Ludeman and Marcus Mendoza one apiece. Nelson and Katasse earned two walks apiece, Madden Mendoza and Belcourt one apiece.
“We are trying to be more league-game oriented,” Tompkins said. “But unfortunately with 14 guys you can’t get everybody in and make everybody happy when you are trying to get a win because it is a league game. We are trying to get these guys up on league and all that stuff and help them understand that. There may be some disappointed guys because we can’t get them in every game but this isn’t Little League, this isn’t high school. You don’t have to get everybody in.”
Against Service, Juneau sent their ace to the mound and Huff went the distance (6 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 1 BB, 2 SO).
“He pitched a gem of a game for us,” Tompkins said. “Kept us right there but our errors separated us.”
Juneau scored the first run of the game in the top of the first inning as Hunter Carte led off with a single, Madden Mendoza singled to left field and advanced on an error that scored Carte.
Service’s two runs came in the bottom of the third inning and both teams were hard pressed to find runners. Service had five hits in the game and Juneau three.
Carte, Madden Mendoza and Jacob Katasse had one hit each for Juneau. Blatnick, M. Nelson and Marcus Mendoza had one walk each.
“Service played good small ball and that’s how they scored,” Tompkins said. “There were no earned runs on that game. When you play a tight game like that you have to go error free and sometimes you can’t. That’s on me, too. I didn’t try to manufacture any runs, I just trusted that after the day before the bats were going to come alive and they weren’t as live as they were the day before. I’ve got to learn to manufacture when you can.”
Auke Bay Post 25 will host Palmer Post 15 in a four-game series at Adair Kennedy Memorial Park beginning with a non-league game at 6:30 p.m. Saturday, a league double-header at 2:30 p.m. and 4:30 p.m. on Sunday, and a non-league game at noon Monday.
“The team impressed me this trip,” Tompkins said. “The ones that got in did great and the ones that didn’t were team players. When we won, we won big and nobody complained about playing time. But when we lost then you start worrying about playing time instead of team and that is when it gets tough and you have to deal with team emotions.”
• Contact Klas Stolpe at klas.stolpe@juneauempire.com.
