The Thunder Mountain High School fell to host Petersburg during the opening game of the Southeast Region V high school baseball tournament held in Petersburg this week. The Vikings beat the Falcons 5-3.
Petersburg was seeded as the guest team in tournament and scored twice in the first inning to take an early lead. Thunder Mountain would score a run in the bottom of the first inning when Zeb Storie walked and came around to score. The Falcons were able to tie the game in the third inning when Taylor Funderburck reached base on an error and later scored off a hit by Storie. Bobby Cox then brought Storie home on single for a 3-2 advantage.
In the fifth inning, Petersburg starting pitcher Kjell Wittstock drove home Louden Sandhofer to score the decisive run. Wittstock kept Thunder Mountain off stride with breaking balls to clinch the victory. The Falcons’ Owen Swanton struck out seven Vikings in the loss.
In game two, Juneau-Douglas High School rode the experience of their ace pitcher Bryce Swofford to defeat the Ketchikan Kings 6-2.
Ketchikan scored first to give the Kings the early 1-0 lead after the first inning. However, the Crimson Bears would score four runs in the second inning.
Niko Hebert, Devin Williams, and Michael Cesar all reached base, and Donovin McCurley nabbed a double with the bases loaded. McCurley would later score on a single by senior Alex Muir to make the game 4-1. That was all the lead that senior pitcher Swofford needed to secure the win for the Crimsons Bears. He struck out 10 Kayhi batters and pitched a complete game.
In the last game Thursday, Sitka defeated Petersburg 9-5.
