Chase Foster hit a two-run single and Juneau Post 25 seized a 7-4 win in their second game of a doubleheader against Chugiak Post 33 late Saturday afternoon at Adair-Kennedy Memorial Field.
Michael Cesar led Juneau with four hits and an RBI while Foster, Bobby Cox, Philip Wall and Cameron Eppers all drove in runs.
Cox pitched five strong innings but ran into some trouble in the sixth inning, hitting a pair of batters and giving up a two-RBI single to Ian Frizelle. But from that point on Chugiak, could muster just one more hit as Bryson Echiverri came to the mound in the seventh and recorded his first save of the season.
Post 25 unleashed a barrage of hits in the second inning. After Foster’s single made it 3-0, Cesar, Wall and Cox delivered three consecutive RBI singles to put Juneau up 6-0.
Juneau improves to 2-1 on the season while Chugiak falls to 2-3. Juneau broke a 5-5 tie with a five-run sixth inning to top Chugiak 10-5 on Friday night. Both teams play one final game on Sunday.
Juneau Post 25 hosts East Post 34 next weekend for games Friday (6:30 p.m.), Saturday (noon and 3 p.m.) and Sunday (11 a.m.).
Chugiak 5, Juneau 1
The Juneau Post 25 baseball team lost 5-1 to Chugiak Post 33 early Saturday afternoon.
With some key Juneau starters out of the lineup, Chugiak pitcher Garrett Nevells spun six scoreless innings and allowed just five hits and three walks.
Philip Wall was also sharp on the mound, striking out nine batters in his first start of the season.
Thanks to some aggressive hitting and unfortunate errors, Chugiak took a two-run lead in the first inning that Juneau never recovered from. Juneau coach Joe Tompkins said the team struggled to shake off early errors.
“They let it snowball; if they made a mistake, they didn’t get rid of it, so they would make another one and another one and another one,” Tompkins said. “It just added up and it just brings the team down. Baseball’s a game of momentum and the momentum shifted to them right off the bat.”
Wall, Michael Cesar, Brock McCormick, Olin Rawson and Brennon Ludeman each collected hits. But with Nevells on the mound and speedy players in the outfield, the boys in blue couldn’t find the gaps for extra bases.
“He’s not the hardest thrower but he’s got enough velocity where good things happen,” Chugiak coach Doug Henie said of Nevells.
With the bases loaded in the fourth inning, a DJ Davis grounder to Gabe Storie took an uncanny bounce as it reached the shortstop who couldn’t get a glove on it. Sam Hall and Nevells scored on the play to give Chugiak a 4-0 lead.
Henie, who grew up in Sitka, is familiar with the peculiarities of an all-dirt field and warned his players about them.
“If you don’t take the right route to the ball in this kind of stuff, it’s going to eat you up,” Henie said. “They find they’re turning two or whatever and they got so much time because the ball gets to them so much quicker. Up north, we got turf everywhere and it’s a lot slower.”
Juneau scored its first run in the sixth inning off a Ludeman RBI single before Chugiak sealed the game in the next inning with one final run.
• Contact sports reporter Nolin Ainsworth at 523-2272 or nainsworth@juneauempire.com. Follow Empire Sports on Twitter at @akempiresports.
Chugiak Post 33’s Garrett Nevells pitches to Juneau Post 25 on Saturday. (Nolin Ainsworth | Juneau Empire)
