Road Warriors rebound in second leg of doubleheader

WASILLA — It didn’t take long for the Alaska Road Warriors to rebound.

After suffering a 10-2 loss to Chugiak early Saturday afternoon, the Road Warriors regrouped to post a 5-3 win over the Mustangs during the second leg of an American Legion doubleheader at McManus Field.

Mike Wagner pitched a complete game and the Road Warriors committed just one error, as Alaska improved to 4-3 in league play and snapped a three-game losing streak.

During the eight-run loss to the Mustangs, Alaska walked seven Chugiak hitters and committed six errors.

“To beat a good t eam, you can’t give them extra outs,” Alaska skipper Steve Mossburgh said.

Kyle Bovy used a run-scoring single down the right field line to push the go-ahead run across the plate and help the Warriors snap their losing streak.

“He hits the ball well,” Mossburgh said of Bovy. “He just plunks it all over the field. Mostly singles, the occasional double, but he usually puts the ball into play.”

With the score tied at 3-3 in the seventh, Keith Christopher and Tommy Rodamer sandwiched an Eric Washington walk to load the bases.

Bovy’s hit drove in Alaska’s fourth run, and Tommy Brown drew a bases loaded walk to give Alaska the 5-3 lead.

Bovy went 2-for-2, with a single and a double, to lead the Warriors. Christopher finished 2-for-3 with a sacrifice fly RBI. Brown drove in a pair of runs in the win.

Wagner allowed only seven hits en route to earning the seven-inning complete game win on the mound.

“He was spotting the ball pretty well today,” Mossburgh said. “He kept the ball down all day. Most of their hits were just base hits.”

Mossburgh also praised his defense during the win. Bovy started a pair of double plays from his spot at third base. Infielder Chris Bydlon also made a diving catch and caught a Chugiak base runner at first for another double play.

While defense was solid in the second game, Alaska struggled during the first part of the doubleheader.

Thanks in part to seven walks and six Alaska errors, Chugiak posted a 10-2 win.

Chugiak scored eight of its 10 runs in two innings en route to improving to 8-1 overall.

After Washington doubled to drive in Rodamer in the bottom of the second to tie the game at 1-1, Chugiak grabbed hold of the lead with three runs in the fourth and solidified its advantage with five more in the sixth.

In the fourth, Chugiak put its first four hitters of the inning on base, despite not getting the ball out of the infield. Chugiak’s Chase Foster reached on an error, and Garrett Balen’s hard shot bounced off the glove of Alaska shortstop Jaron Christensen, who dove to knock the hit down.

Tyler Belk followed with a lazy infield single to the right side and Ty Griffith drew a walk. Belk’s dribble off his bat drove in a run.

Doug Henie and Derek Henry both sent singles into short right field later in the inning to score runs.

It was much of the same in the sixth, as four of the first Mustangs hitters got on board. Henry, Matt Sullivan and Garrett Balen all walked and scored on errors in the sixth.

“A lot of errors in the infield today,” Mossburgh said of his team’s play in the first game. “That just hurts.”

Toby Morgan singled to drive in Chugiak’s fifth run of the sixth. But Christopher, Alaska’s catcher, gunned down Morgan, who was trying to advance to third, to end the inning and stop the bleeding.

Alaska was able to add a second run in the bottom of the sixth when Washington scored on Bovy’s double.

Rhowe Stefanski started and worked five innings for the Warriors.

“I thought Rhowe pitched well,” Mossburgh said.