Knights notch four-peat; Four Valley teams advance to state baseball tournaments

The Colony Knights notched the four-peat, and they beat their biggest rival to do it.

Colony earned a 5-2 victory over the Wasilla Warriors during the Railbelt Conference championship game Friday night in Fairbanks. With the win, the Knights captured the conference crown for the fourth-straight season.

Colony, which was 0-2 against Wasilla during the regular season, jumped out to a 5-0 lead and held on for the win. Kaesen Buzby scattered three hits over 4 ⅓ innings and fanned seven to earn the win on the mound. Sherman pitched the eight-out save.

Hayden Sherman also gave Colony its first lead of the game. Chase Carson scored when Sherman was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded. Cade Otto followed with a run-scoring single. Buzby gave Colony the 3-0 lead when he drew a walk with the bases loaded.

Sherman added a two-run single in the fourth.

Jimmy Lackey put the Warriors on the scoreboard with an RBI single in the fifth. Waylon Halverson later scored for the Warriors when Camden Mette walked with the bases loaded.

Both Colony and Wasilla now advance to the state tournament, which starts Thursday at Mulcahey Stadium in Anchorage. The Knights open against Dimond, which qualified as an at-large team, Thursday at 4 p.m.

The Warriors meet Cook Inlet Conference champion Eagle River Thursday at 7 p.m.

Wasilla needed a win following the Colony loss to advance to state, and edged West Valley 2-1 the following morning. Lalo Palomares pitched a complete game to earn the win on the mound. He allowed only two hits and one earned run, and struck out five.

Ramon Guzman scored the game-winning run on a Halverson single in the bottom of the sixth inning. Jacob Johnson scored Wasilla’s first run in the bottom of the first.

Otto, Sherman and Boman Marks were each named first-team all-conference for the Knights. Guzman, Palomares and Halverson were named to the first team for the Warriors. Wasilla skipper Ken Ottinger was named the coach of the Year.

Palmer and Houston are also headed to a state tourney, landing on the Division II state bracket. The Moose open Thursday at 12:45 p.m. against Mid-Alaska Conference champion North Pole. Houston plays Northern Lights Conference champ Soldotna Thursday at 3:30 p.m.

Palmer finished third in the NLC. Houston qualified as an at-large team.

Palmer advanced to the NLC title game, but suffered a 10-0 loss to SoHi. The NLC baseball bracket includes a second-place game. Kenai beat Palmer 4-1 to place second in the tourney.

Palmer opened the NLC tourney with back-to-back wins over Valley rivals. The Moose beat Redington 13-7 and Houston 8-1.

Tristan Barrey drove in three and scored twice for Palmer. Brian Hartman had three hits, three runs and two RBI. Timothy Bridgeman had three hits and two runs. Reed Craner added two hits, two runs and two RBI.

Greene led Redington with two hits.

Mason Miller and Wyatt Jacobs led Palmer with two RBI each against Houston. Barrey had three hits.

Houston scored a big 7-4 win over third-seeded Kenai in the first round. Ethan Spencer and Jayden Garcia drove in two each for the Hawks.

Craner was named Co-NLC Player of the Year. Palmer’s Taylon Ottinger and Redington’s Levi Lanning were named the Co-NLC Coach of the Year.

Redington’s Juju Atencio was named first-team all-conference. Palmer’s Timothy Bridgeman, Avery Shults and Zandor Landon, and Houston’s Ty Sonnentag were named second-team.

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