Road Warriors to play for title

ANCHORAGE — Throughout the summer, Alaska Road Warriors head coach Steve Mossburgh has continued to say that if his team plays to its potential, the Road Warriors can beat anyone.

Mossburgh was right.

The Road Warriors followed an 8-0 shutout of top-seeded Fairbanks on Wednesday with a 7-3 win over second-seeded Dimond on Thursday during the Alaska American Legion state championships at Mulcahy Stadium in Anchorage.

The Road Warriors move into the tournament’s championship game with the wins and will play for the American Legion title today at 5:30 p.m. at Mulcahy.

“I’ve told them, if they go out and play ball, ain’t nobody beats this team,” Mossburgh said of his fifth-seeded squad. “They just came in and figured, we’ve got nothing to lose, and they played another good game. I’m so proud of them.”

A day after Matt Packa dazzled with his complete-game shutout of Fairbanks, Rhowe Stefanski supplied another gem of a performance with the complete-game victory over the Lynx.

“Rhowe pitched a great game. They both pitched great games,” Mossburgh said of his starters.

Stefanski scattered six hits and three runs over nine innings. The Colony High School graduate walked one and fanned a batter. In addition to Stefanksi’s work on the mound, Mossburgh credited an all-around effort.

“They played outstanding defense and they hit the ball well again today,” Mossburgh said.

The Road Warriors collected 14 hits and didn’t commit an error. Mossburgh noted his left side of the infield, shortstop Jaron Christensen and third baseman Josh Grissom, specifically.

The Road Warriors took an early 2-0 lead and scored four unanswered runs to seal the victory, which moves the Wasilla team into its first appearance in a state legion title game in about 20 years.

Chris Bydlon led off the game with a single and scored when Eric Washington doubled to center field in the first inning to give the Warriors the 1-0 lead. Wes Smith followed with an RBI single that scored Washington.

After Dimond tied the score at 3-3 in the third, David Newman gave the Warriors the lead with a run-scoring single. The Wasilla team padded its advantage with JD Mayo’s RBI in the sixth, and added to that lead with a run-scoring triple by Washington and an RBI single by Smith in the eighth.

Smith led the Warriors at the plate, finished 4-for-5 with two RBI.

The Road Warriors moved into the semifinals with the shutout victory of Fairbanks, which entered tournament play with a state-best 18-2 record.

Packa was stellar for the Warriors, pitching seven innings of three-hit baseball. He fanned five and didn’t walk a batter.

“That’s the best game I’ve seen Packa pitch in two years,” Mossburgh said.

The Warriors jumped to an early lead with a pair of runs in the first. Mayo scored on a passed ball to give the Warriors the 1-0 lead, and Newman used a sacrifice fly to drive in Washington.

Alaska scored three times in the fourth to take the 6-0 lead. Bydlon drove in two runs with a single, and later scored on a Fairbanks error in the fifth.

Washington led the Warriors at the plate with a pair of hits.

The Road Warriors’ spot in the title game ensures the Wasilla team to travel to an Outside tournament next month. The Alaska state champion heads to Spokane, Wash., for a tourney, Mossburgh said. The runner-up will compete in an event in Bozeman, Mont.

“We know we’re going somewhere,” Mossburgh said. “We’re happy about that.”

The legion event is a double elimination tournament and Wasilla won’t know its opponent in the title game until this afternoon. Dimond and Chugiak meet in the final game in the loser’s bracket today at 1 p.m. The winner of that game will move into the state championship match today at 5:30 p.m.

If the Road Warriors win, the tourney is over. With an Alaska loss, a second game would be played on Saturday. As of Thursday evening, a time had not be set for a potential second game.

Contact Frontiersman sports editor Jeremiah Bartz at sports@frontiersman.com.