Kodiak closer kills Warrior rally

PALMER — Win or loose, the Wasilla Warriors don’t make it easy on anyone.

Despite being down by at least four runs twice, Wasilla had the go-ahead run at the plate with no outs in the final inning, but Kodiak closer Raphael Matuatia fanned three straight Warriors to save the Bears’ 8-5 win over Wasilla during the first round of the Southcentral Conference Championships at Hermon Brothers Field on Thursday.

The Warriors scored a pair of runs in the top of the seventh inning to cut Kodiak’s lead to 8-5 and loaded the bases with no outs. But Matuatia came into the game and struck out the final three hitters to lead the Bears into the second round of the single-elimination tournament and end the Warriors’ 2011 season.

“We fought the entire game,” Wasilla head coach Jason Terryberry said. “We were down early, but we’ve been down early in games before. We’ve come back and won them, and we’ve had some we came back and lost. They’re fighters, they never quit. They just came up short tonight.”

The Warriors entered the final inning down by five runs, but senior David Newman sparked a rally with a leadoff double. Following Newman’s double to left center field, sophomore Ben Fielder drew a walk. Both scored on Kodiak wild pitches.

The rally continued as John Stormont and Ian Zwink were both hit by pitches. Kyle Simmons drew another walk to load the bases.

And then Matuatia went to work.

“We’ve seen him before. We know he can get wild at times. I just told my guys to be patient,” Terryberry said. “But (Matuatia) settled down and got the guys he needed to. That’s what good pitchers do.”

Kodiak was able to jump to a quick 4-0 lead in the first. After Wasilla starter Bryce Borngraeber fanned Kodiak leadoff hitter Alec Eastman to begin the game, the Bears were able to put five of the next six batters on base.

Eddie Arellano singled and scored on a Patrick Pickett triple. Pickett quickly scored when Matuatia reached on an error.

Austin Frick’s bloop single drove in Matuatia, and Frick later scored on a wild pitch to give Kodiak the 4-0 lead.

Wasilla jumped on the scoreboard in the top of the second. Stormont tripled to right field and scored on a Zwink sacrifice fly.

Newman reached on an error and scored on another Kodiak error to cut Kodiak’s lead to 4-2 in the fifth.

Newman led the Warriors with two hits and two runs in the loss. Dillon Ferro also had a pair of hits for WHS.

Pickett was 3 for 4 with an RBI in the win. Pickett collected three of Kodiak’s seven hits.

Wasilla had eight hits, but stranded 11 runners in the game.

Contact Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman sports editor Jeremiah Bartz at sports@frontiersman.com and follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/matsu_sports.