American Legion Juneau Post 25’s coaching staff had some careful planning to do last week.
With seven games in under a week and pitch count rules to be followed, coach Joe Tompkins had to figure out how to get the most out of his pitching rotation sans Bryce Swofford and Philip Wall.
After going undefeated on the week, it’s safe to say the skipper found a solution. Juneau Post 25 won each of their seven road games by an average of eight runs capped by Chandler Lewis’ three-hitter against Ketchikan Post 3 in a 9-2 win Tuesday night.
“The boys are hitting the ball, stealing bases, they’re aggressive,” Tompkins said. “We got a smart group of boys out on the baseball field, they’re fun to watch.”
Juneau is now atop the American Legion AA National League with 40 total points thanks to a perfect 10-0 league record. The only loss so far this summer arrived on June 1, the first game of the season, in a non-league contest against Dimond Post 21. Behind Juneau in the National League standings are Service Post 28 (9-0) and Ketchikan (4-8). South Post 4 leads the American League with 38 points.
In the first two games on Saturday, Tompkins cycled through five different pitchers in 14-0 and 7-3 wins against East Post 34. By conserving the number of pitches Zeb Storie, Donavin McCurley and Bobby Cox threw on Saturday, Tompkins could start them later in the week. The tactic appeared to paid off. Three of the following four games saw each respective pitcher go extended innings while allowing five or fewer hits.
“Having Bryce and Philip out kind of hurts us, but our pitching’s pretty solid still,” Post 25’s Brandon Keeler said.
Storie struck out six Chugiak Post 33 batters in the first game of a Sunday doubleheader. The Thunder Mountain High School graduate was equally effective at the plate. Storie walked twice and had a hand in five of the team’s nine total runs as Post 25 downed Chugiak 9-0.
In the second game of the doubleheader against Chugiak, McCurley pitched a complete game without allowing a single run. Juneau went up 4-0 in the first inning and scored in four of the following five to pull away.
With Cox still unable to pitch for one more day, Post 25 threw four different pitchers at West Post 1 in a 5-4 win.
“There’s definitely a switch that you can feel,” Logan Lesmann said of whenever the team starts hitting. “Our dugout gets a lot louder and there’s just a huge rally going on and its pretty cool.”
Post 25 trailed late in the game, but Swofford homered in the sixth inning and Luke Mallinger hit a 2 RBI single in the seventh to take the lead.
“This was 340 (feet) so it would of been in the trees at Adair, but this was a shot, this is left-center out in the big field out in Mulcahy 4 stadium,” Tompkins said of Swofford’s big hit.
The final day of baseball for Post 25 resembled the first two. Juneau outscored Ketchikan Post 3 by a margin of 21-4. In the first game, Cox struck out eight batters in five innings, when the game was called due to the 10-run rule.
Juneau plays its final home games of the season in two weeks against Service Post 21 at Adair-Kennedy Field. The team will then finish its season back in Anchorage beginning July 20.
“I like for these boys to be tested to see what they have in their heart,” Tompkins said.
“We can’t go into the game knowing your going to win it,” Keeler added.
Week in Review
Saturday, June 24
Juneau 14, East Anchorage 0
Juneau 7, East Anchorage 3
Sunday, June 25
Juneau 9, Chugiak 0
Juneau 8, Chugiak 0
Monday, June 26
Juneau 6, West Anchorage 5
Tuesday, June 27
Juneau 12, Ketchikan 2
Juneau 9, Ketchikan 2
• Contact sports reporter Nolin Ainsworth at 523-2272 or nolin.ainsworth@juneauempire.com.
Juneau Post 25’s Owen Mendoza fields a ground ball on Saturday, June 24, against East Post 34 in Anchorage. (Photo courtesy of Jeremy Ludeman)
