Freshmen help Knights get past Moose in baseball tourney

HOUSTON — As the Colony and Palmer hitters traded jabs throughout the early innings, the Knights turned to a young arm to help Colony pull through.

Freshman Kolten Ketchum tossed 4 and 2/3 innings of relief to help the Knights post a 17-11 win over the rival Moose during a consolation round of the Southcentral Conference Championships baseball tournament at Houston High School Friday.

“Kolten threw the ball well and gave us what we needed,” Colony head coach Jordan Chadwell said after the win.

Ketchum took the mound after four of Palmer’s first five hitters of the bottom of the third scored runs. Ketchum walked the first hitter he faced and allowed a pair of hits during the inning, but improved as the game progressed.

“He was a little shaky at first. That’s the first time he’s pitched in a week. But he settled down and threw great,” Chadwell said. “I was pleased with him.”

After Palmer tied the score at 10 in the fourth, Ketchum allowed only one run during the final three innings to earn the win on the mound in relief.

Chadwell said he was not only pleased with Ketchum, but all of the freshmen who contributed Friday. Freshman Benjamin Werner singled and scored three runs, and Alex Gamez collected a pair of singles and scored a run. Werner and Gamez scored back-to-back runs in the second inning to help the Knights take their first big lead of the game.

“They almost set the tone as much as anything today,” Chadwell said of the freshmen.

Chadwell also got production out of his seniors.

Senior Matt Palmer singled, doubled, tripled and walked, and drove in a game-high six runs. Senior Logan Sanders finished with two hits, two runs and three RBI. Senior Robert Cottingham collected a single, two walks, four runs and two RBI. Senior Josh Finch reached base four times, and scored four runs.

“They’ve all been great for me all year. I know I’m going to get quality stuff out of them,” Chadwell said. “The way it’s been, I know I’m going to get good things out of all of them, freshmen included.”

Colony took an early 1-0 lead in the first with the first of Matt Palmer’s six RBI. The Knights added to that lead in the second. Werner reached on a bunt single, and scored on a Moose passed ball. Later in the inning, Sanders doubled to drive in two runs. Matt Palmer added another RBI to give Colony the 5-1 lead. Colony added five more runs in the third. Cottingham and Sanders drove in runs, and with the bases loaded, Matt Palmer doubled to left field to clear the bags and give Colony the 10-4 lead.

Colony enjoyed another big inning in the sixth. Werner was hit by a pitch at the top of the inning, and later scored on a Moose error. Later in the sixth, Cooper McLaughlin doubled to drive in a pair of runs, and Brendan Jackiemiec collected a run-scoring single.

Colony finished with 17 runs on a dozen hits, but was not the only team to have success at the plate. Palmer finished with 11 hits in the loss.

“We had 36 hits in three games,” Palmer head coach Dave Combs said of his team in the conference tournament. “That’s hitting the ball well. We just didn’t play defense.”

Combs was excited about his team’s play at the plate, but said defense and lack of pitching depth ultimately led to the end of Palmer’s season in the elimination loss to the Knights.

“Eleven runs should win the ball game,” Combs said. “But there are two sides to the game. We just didn’t play defense. We were down two pitchers, and we had too many walks. It’s the nature of the beast. You gotta play defense.”

Senior Elias Stratton led the Moose, going 4-5 at the plate, with two runs and four RBI. Junior Austin Reeder added a single and two RBI. Senior Wyatt Shults finished with a double, triple and run scored. Sophomore Cody Grogan singled, scored twice and drove in a run. Sophomore Keegan Larson singled, walked three times, scored twice and drove in a run. Junior Hayden Shults singled and scored twice. Senior Jacob Copeland also scored.

Stratton doubled and scored in the bottom of the first inning to tie the score at 1. After Colony scored four runs in the top of the second, Palmer answered right back with three in the bottom of the inning. Stratton doubled for the second time to drive in a pair of runs. Reeder used a ground out to send Copeland across the plate to cut Colony’s lead to 5-4.

In third, Colony extended its lead again. But once again, the Moose came back.

Wyatt Shults sparked the Moose with a lead-off triple in the third, and quickly scored on a Grogan single. Stratton singled to drive in two more runs. Later in the inning Jarred Yanez used a run-scoring single to cut Colony’s lead to 10-9.

In the fifth, Grogan scored on a Larson single to tie the game at 10.

Colony and Palmer were both sent to the consolation side of the bracket after the first day. The Moose opened with a 16-9 win over Homer in the quarterfinals, but fell to rival Wasilla in the semifinals. Colony, the No. 2 seed from the Southcentral North, was upset by third-seeded Soldotna 6-4 in the quarterfinals.

Colony beat Houston to set up the match with Palmer.

Knights fall short

HOUSTON — Kodiak knocked Colony out of contention for a spot in the state tournament with a 14-8 win over the Knights in the consolation bracket Saturday morning.

Kodiak jumped out to an early lead, building a 9-1 lead in the fourth inning. The Knights rallied with four runs in the fifth, but Kodiak answered with three more in the sixth. Later Saturday, Kodiak beat Soldotna 5-2 to grab the final state tourney berth