Prep baseball: Knights score 3rd-place finish

WASILLA — Despite having just watched his team complete its best baseball season in school history, Colony coach Jamie Mayo admitted to being a bit choked up.

“I’m already sad about losing some of these seniors,” Mayo said by phone from Fairbanks after Colony dispatched North Pole 17-4 to claim third place in the ASAA/First National Bank Alaska State Baseball Tournament on Saturday.

With a wealth of solid young players, Colony didn’t ride a senior-laden lineup this season, and will graduate just four seniors — Cory Cucullu, Phillip Gifford, Chris Breck and Blake Huppert. But two of those, Huppert and Breck, were four-year members of the squad who helped build the team into a state power this season, and Mayo said things won’t be the same without them around.

“It’s a little tough,” Mayo said.

Mayo heaped praise on his team, which finished the season with an 11-1 record and advanced further in the state tournament since Wasilla reached the finals in 2001. Colony’s last trip to state came in 2000.

“This is a special group of kids,” he said.

Colony opened the tournament with a wild 16-12 win over West Valley on Thursday, a game that featured a two-out grand slam by sophomore designated hitter Kody Ziter and a 3-for-4 day from both Huppert and Josh Wood.

Colter Peterson added a pair of hits, while Cucullu drove in three runs. The Knights opened the game with a 10-run first inning.

Colony’s bats went cold in the semifinals against Juneau, getting one-hit by starter Sean Bavard. Peterson had Colony’s lone hit in the game, a single.

“Our kids hit him, but we hit it hard at people,” Mayo said of Bavard’s gem.

Colony again rode a big first inning to a win over North Pole Saturday. The Knights scored eight runs in the first to give starter Rhowe Stefanski all the help he would need. Stefanski didn’t allow an earned run in his four innings of work, though the Knights did commit six errors — including five in the first inning — to hand the Wolfpack four unearned runs. Mayo was at a loss to explain his team’s defensive lapse.

“The law of averages is gonna catch up with you,” he said.

“But,” he added, “We played great after that.”

Shortstop Josh Boring hit an inside-the-park home run for the Knights and was one of a trio of Knights with three hits in the game. Huppert went 3-for-3, Peterson was 3-for-4 and Breck went 2-for-3.

Mayo said the Knights got solid hitting all weekend long.

“Everybody hit the ball extremely well,” he said.

All 16 of Colony’s regular varsity players got playing time, as did two junior varsity call-ups. Mayo said all of his players responded to whatever role they were placed in, giving him the flexibility to shuffle his line-up to the team’s advantage.

“The kids moved around and responded,” he said.

Mayo said he had high hopes for his team going into the season, and the Knights fully lived up to those expectations by completing the best season in school history.

“How can you not be happy with that?”

Contact Matt Tunseth at 352-2265 or matt.tunseth@frontiersman.com