Colony "Jekyll-and-Hyde" squad survives

ANCHORAGE -- At the end of the first inning of Thursday's match between Colony and West, it looked as if West had no hope.

Colony scored seven runs in the first, added two in the second and held a 13-0 advantage at the end of the third.

West finally got on the board in the fifth to cut the Colony lead to a mere 13 runs.

The Eagles were able to fly back into the game in the late innings. The West baseball team's mascot could have been the mosquito and the pesky West ballclub just would not go away. With their bats alive, Colony tried to swat the Eagles away, but West climbed back into the game with 10 runs in the

final three innings.

Colony's Dude Hooser retired a pair of West batters in the top of the ninth after a one-out Eagle rally to help the Knights escape with a

19-11 non-conference win.

"This is a Jekyll-and-Hyde team," Colony head coach Jamie Mayo said. "I'm somewhat perplexed at the moment."

The bewildered skipper watched his team squander a 14-1 lead.

"We were up 14-1 and next thing you know it, it's 14-9," Mayo said.

The Colony hurlers struggled to find the plate through out the game and the Knights made critical blunders in the field.

Late in the game, Hooser looked as if he could have starred in the sequel to "Dude, Where's My Car", in "Dude, Where's the Strike Zone," as he plunked two batters and walked two

others.

The first batter Hooser faced, Eric Regan, took a free pass to first after being struck by a Hooser fastball in the thigh.

Though Hooser struggled on the mound, he contributed at the plate. Hooser was 4 for 5 with three runs batted in and two runs scored.

Kyle Savage, who worked the middle innings in relief for starter Clay Hotchkiss, also struggled to find the strike zone. Savage walked three batters and hit another in a seven-run, West seventh inning.

Savage actually hit three West hitters. Only one registered the free base. The umpire accused two West players of moving their body into the pitch purposely and did not allow them to take their free trot to first.

"I am real concerned about our pitching," Mayo said. "I thought it would be a strength. We struggled to consistently throw strikes."

Colony's offensive surge helped overshadow their less than perfect performance on the mound. The Knights scored early and often. Colony roughed up West starter Ryan Holunquist for seven runs in the first. Holunquist was given a one-way ticket to the bench after just one inning.

Seven of the first nine Colony hitters of the game reached home plate.

With a 1-0 lead and men on first and second, Hooser hit a bases clearing triple to give Colony a 3-0 advantage. Hooser scored on a Holunquist balk to give the Knights a 4-0 lead.

Kyle Wimmer and Joe Hess reached on errors and Josh Morlan and John Coan registered RBI singles in the first inning for Colony.

Twelve different Knights crossed home plate in the scoring fest. Coan led the squad with three runs scored. Five Colony players scored twice.

Random hits … The game time for the festival of runs was a shade over three hours … Nine different Colony players registered hits and eight different Knights were walked … Hooser had four hits in the contest and Coan recorded three singles … Hess had a team-high four RBIs … Justin Coffman had two hits including a power bunt. The Colony catcher laid down a bunt late in the game that bounced all the way to the West third basemen. Coffman loaded the bases with the hit … After the game, Mayo praised the play of Wimmer. The Knight had a multi-hit game and excelled defensively at both second and third.