Baseball: Palmer pulls out Peninsula split

PALMER – The Palmer Moose had Soldotna right were they wanted them.

The Moose used a three-run sixth inning to take command of the Railbelt Conference game. But unfortunately for Palmer, the Stars used a five-run seventh to steal a win from the Moose at Hermon Brothers Field on Friday.

“We had 'em down, but didn’t stick it to 'em,” Palmer head coach David Combs said after the 7-5 loss, his team’s second of the season. “You got to close the door.”

On Saturday, the result was much better, with Palmer picking up an 11-1 win over Homer.

On Friday, Soldotna’s Justice Elson, Beau Sisson and Michael Griffen each scored with no outs on wild pitches in the top of the seventh to erase Palmer’s 5-2 lead. Mitchell Thompson and Taylan Strieff scored two-out runs late in the inning to allow the Stars to improve to 3-0 on the young season.

Elson and Sisson started the rally by reaching on consecutive errors at the top of the final inning.

“The tone was set on the first play of the top of the seventh,” Combs said. “Then it unraveled from there. You can’t give people extra outs.”

Junior Sterling Nielsen pitched 6 and 2/3 innings for the Moose. Even though Nielsen walked 11 hitters before making room for reliever Kenneth Carlson on the mound in the top of the seventh, the junior southpaw was able to limit the Stars’ damage at the plate until the final inning.

“It wasn’t like Sterling was pitching bad in that last inning, we just didn’t help him out,” Combs said.

Although the Moose unraveled defensively in the seventh, Palmer posted several key plays in the field early in the game to give the Moose a chance at the victory.

In the first, Nielson and catcher Isaac Courson combined on an inning-ending double to get the Moose out of a bases loaded jam. Nielson forced Soldotna’s Larson Kohler to hit a weak grounder back to the mound, then promptly threw home. Courson stepped on the plate and capped the play with a toss to first.

In the second, Nielson found Taylon Streiff away from first base and picked off the Soldotna sophomore.

In the third, Palmer caught Steven Steger in a pickle between first and second, and then caught Elson trying to steal home.

Last but not least, after Soldotna took a 1-0 lead in the top of the fourth inning, Palmer right fielder Keith Christopher gunned down Thompson at home plate.

“The throw by Keith was awesome,” Combs said.

Christopher also sparked Palmer’s three-run sixth by legging-out an infield single at the start of the inning. Cole Smith reached on an error to put two men on, and Nielson cleared the bases with a bloop single to give the Moose a 4-2 lead.

“The sixth was huge,” Combs said. “We had clutch hits.”

Senior Kyle Bovy scored later in the inning when teammate Tommy Brown drew a bases loaded walk.

Moose sink Mariners

PALMER — Palmer exploded for 10 runs in the first inning to cruise to its first win over Homer in school history Saturday in Palmer.

“We played really good right off the bat,” Palmer coach Dave Combs said.

Keith Christopher pitched a complete game for the Moose.

Combs said his team batted around in the opening frame, getting solid contributions up and down the batting order.

“It was really a team effort,” he said.

Contact sports editor Jeremiah Bartz at 352-2273.