Road Warriors eliminated from state tournament

PALMER — The Wasilla Road Warriors entered the state tournament as arguably the hottest team in the field.

The Warriors had won nine of their final 10 league games of the regular season. But their season came to a premature end.

The morning after West Anchorage upset Wasilla in the first round, Chugiak bounced the Road Warriors with a 10-3 win over Wasilla during an elimination game on the second day of the Alaska American Legion State Baseball Championships Wednesday morning at Mulcahy Stadium in Anchorage.

The Mustangs jumped to a quick 4-0 lead in the first inning, and led 6-0 after two.

Wasilla was able to plate a pair of runs in the third to cut into Chugiak’s lead. Ben Werner reached on a bunt to spark Wasilla, and quickly scored on a James Arend triple. Jeffrey Forster hit a sacrifice fly to drive in Arend later in the inning.

Werner and Arend led Wasilla with two hits each. Arend, Forster and Sam Reed drove in runs. Kendell Ruta scored a run for the Road Warriors in the ninth inning. Kyle Graham, Hank Boyer, Cyrus Lovell and Dawson White also had hits.

Boyer pitched the final 7 1/3 innings in the loss. He allowed six hits and four earned runs, but fanned a game-high eight without walking a batter.

Braden Schackelford earned the win on the mound for the Mustangs. Cam Butler and Ian Frizelle drove in three runs each for Chugiak. Trystan Costanios scored three times.

Wasilla entered the tournament as the No. 3 seed. West Anchorage used four runs in the eighth to score a 5-3 upset over the Warriors in the first round.