Colony wins Southcentral League baseball title

KENAI — A strong outing from junior hurler Jonathan Boyer and solid team defense led the Colony Knights to a Southcentral Conference championship.

First year Knights head coach Jordan Chadwell brought the banner back to Colony for the first time since 2010 with a 6-1 win Friday over Valley rival Wasilla.

Warriors senior captain Josh Grissom singled and scored on a Chris Capo triple to center field to give Wasilla a 1-0 lead in the top of the fourth, but Colony would answer in the bottom half of the inning, scoring three runs on four hits.

The middle of the lineup did the damage for the Knights. Boyer scored on a Damon Hammer triple, Shawn Faulk hit a sacrifice fly to score Hammer, then AC Schmer singled and scored on a double by sophomore Ben Ross.

“We told them to have a good mental approach. After the first time through the order they made the mental adjustment,” Chadwell said.

Grissom had two hits and scored Wasilla’s only run, while Zack Garnett reached base twice for the Warriors. Chris Capo and Blake Carricaburu also each had two hits.

Already ahead 3-1, the Knights struck again in the fifth inning, playing small ball and taking advantage of Wasilla errors. Boyer scored on an error from a sharply hit grounder by Shawn Faulk. Ben Ross singled in Morgan McJimsey and Faulk, and that was all the Knights would need to coast to the SCL title.

“We just went back to basics. We were thinking situational hitting, get it to right side get and him around,” Boyer said. “The balls got through and we kept scoring.”

Colony’s defensive play helped seal the victory for a Knights team that committed only one error. Four Warriors were thrown out on the basepaths and three were caught stealing at second by McJimsey from behind the plate. Boyer picked off a runner in the fifth.

“Our defense played great,” Chadwell said. “McJimsey was clutch, and holding their runners was key. AC Schmer has played great defense all tournament. He’s really improved.”

The Warriors were able to get their leadoff man on base in the second and third innings, but could not move the runners around the basepaths, thanks to McJimsey.

For Colony, Boyer was strong on the mound, allowing just one earned run on eight hits with two strikeouts in seven innings of work.

“Boyer threw well today. A couple of their hits found the holes and dropped in, but he was in control. He had a lot of help from his defense,” Chadwell said.

Tyler Boensch pitched for the Warriors. Boensch allowed three runs on five hits and struck out four in four innings of work. Ian Stormont returned from injury to pitch the fifth. Stormont gave up three runs on two hits and had one strikeout in one inning of work. Ian Zwink pitched the sixth for the Warriors.

The Knights advance to the state tournament, set for May 31 and June 1-2 at Mulcahy Stadium in Anchorage. The Warriors play Kenai at 1 p.m. in the first round.

Wasilla had a chance Saturday to play its way into the state tournament, but lost the SSC second-place game 2-1 Kenai Central.

Contact Tim Rockey at 352-2252 or timothy.rockey@gmail.com. Follow @trockeynews on Twitter.