JEREMIAH BARTZ/Frontiersman sports editor

PALMER - At the very least Josh McLaughlin wants to return to his hometown twice each year. Once for Christmas, and once for the National Baseball Congress World Series.

Fortunately for McLaughlin, the Wichita, Kas., native is returning home for the World Series. Unfortunately for Mat-Su, he'll be wearing the uniform of the Alaska Goldpanners rather than the Miner green and gold.

After clinching the Alaska Baseball League title outright over the weekend, the Goldpanners added McLaughlin to the roster of players the team will take to the NBC tournament in Wichita. Teams with an NBC berth can select up to five players from the other five teams in the ABL for their tournament roster. McLaughlin will finish the regular season with Mat-Su before joining his new club.

"I'd rather go with the Miners, but (Wichita) is home, and that's where I want to go," McLaughlin said.

Matt Inouye, and outfielder for the Peninsula Oilers and a member of the 2003 Mat-Su squad, was also added to the Goldpanner roster.

This will be the third consecutive year McLaughlin, a College of Charleston sophomore, ends his summer in his hometown. Last season McLaughlin pitched for the Aloha Knights - the Oregon-based team that defeated the Miners in the championship game of the World Series.

McLaughlin said he had other opportunities to pitch during the summer in the Lower 48, but after growing up watching the Alaska league teams in the NBC tourney, he said it was a dream to some day play in the ABL. McLaughlin said he used to tell his father he would hitch hike to Alaska just to play in the ABL.

The acquisition gives the Goldpanners the top closer in all of the ABL. McLaughlin leads the league with 10 saves. In just more than 20 innings pitched he has fanned a team-high 28 hitters, while walking just seven. He holds a 2-1 record, and his 0.87 ERA is among the best in the league. The ace of the bullpen is one of the big reasons why Mat-Su is 26-13, and the Miners could still win more games than they did last year during their ABL championship run.

McLaughlin was used mainly in middle relief during his sophomore season at the College of Charleston. In 26 appearances he posted a 4.30 ERA and 3-2 record, but opponents hit just .199 against him. He also struck out 59 hitters in 44 innings. Following the season, McLaughlin said, his coaches wanted for him to prepare to become the College of Charleston closer of the future.

"I like closing more than anything - the pressure situations," McLaughlin said. "It's a different mentality."

The Panners earned the ABL's only World Series berth with an 11-2 win over the Athletes in Action Fire in Fairbanks on Friday. The Goldpanners win combined with a Mat-Su 6-0 loss to the Anchorage Bucs, gave Alaska a five-game lead over the Miners with five games remaining. The Goldpanners own any tiebreakers against Mat-Su - thanks to a 5-2 advantage in the seven games the teams faced each other this season. The Panners were the one team in the ABL this season Mat-Su did not have consistent success against. Of the 11 Miner losses, as of Monday, five came to the Panners.

Early last week the Panners won three times in a four-game series against the Miners at Growden Park in Fairbanks. Those wins proved to be pivotal to Alaska clinching the league title.

"Up there it was kind of like the whole season," McLaughlin said. "We hit the ball really hard, but at people.

"They have a good team, and a good pitching staff," he added. "We came up just a little short."