Juneau Post 25 lost 5-4 in eight innings to Service Post 28 on Monday at the 73rd Alaska Legion Baseball State Tournament at Mulcahy Stadium in Anchorage.
The Midnight Suns, the No. 5 overall seed at the tourney, ended at 0-3 after the loss to the No. 1 Cougars, who also are the defending tournament champions.
The Tuesday semifinals will feature No. 8 Eagle River vs. against No. 3 Wasilla Post 35 at 4 p.m. and Service against No. 2 Kenai Post 20 at 7 p.m.
Coming into Monday’s game, Service, which is seeking a fourth straight trip to the title game, had already locked up the top spot in the Denali Pool, while Juneau had already been eliminated from the tournament.
The Midnight Suns (15-16) still came to play, going toe-to-toe with the Cougars (24-4) the entire contest.
Service led 1-0 after an inning, but Juneau came back to tie it in the second inning before the Cougars struck for two runs in the bottom of that inning.
In the top of the third, the Midnight Suns came right back with two runs for a tie game.
In the top of the sixth, Juneau pushed ahead when Jacob Katasse led off by getting hit by a pitch and eventually came around to score on a passed ball.
Service tied it in the bottom of the sixth on a two-out single by Owen Hickman. Hickman would then win it in the eighth with a one-out single to score Hunter Christian.
Madden Mendoza had two RBIs for Juneau, while Noah Lewis and Hunter Carte each had a hit and a run.
On the mound, Landon Simonson went 5 2-3 innings, giving up four runs — two earned — on four hits.
Carte finished by allowing a run on two hits in 1 2-3 innings.
