Road Warriors use explosive 5th inning to extend win streak

WASILLA — What started Friday as a pitchers’ duel between the state’s top American Legion AA teams quickly turned into an Alaska Road Warriors hitting clinic. The Wasilla-based squad cracked 11 hits and took advantage of six defensive errors in a mercy-rule-shortened 10-0 shutout of Chugiak at Lou McManus Field.

Although the Road Warriors ended up winning going away, the first four ½ innings were another story altogether, which Chugiak hurler Chase Gall battling Wasilla starter Jonathan Boyer. And through four innings, Gall was matching Boyer pitch for pitch.

The teams played to a 0-0 tie through the first three innings, but the Road Warriors finally found a little pop in their bats in the fourth, when Cooper Hanson hit a long fly ball to center field to score Morgan McJimsey, who led off the bottom of the inning with a hard double.

Boyer pitched another shutout top of the fifth, then with his team leading 1-0 led off a monster bottom half of the inning that would see 11 Road Warriors step into the batter’s box and reel off nine quick runs. With only one out, the game was called by the umpires because of a new rule that says if a team is ahead by 10 or more runs after five innings of play, the game is called. The rule used to be after seven innings, but has changed this season, Wasilla head coach Myrle Thompson said.

“Yeah, at first I was a little surprised, but I remember seeing something about (that rule) and the other coach did, too,” he said.

Going into the game, it had all the makings of an upset, with the undefeated Road Warriors (now 8-0 on the season), coming off a long nearly week-long break, Thompson was concerned the team may lose some of its momentum.

“I was a little worried about that,” he said. “We had a couple of practices (during the week). And, we had five guys play in the all-star team that played the (Anchorage) Bucs last night. In fact, Boyer pitched in that game.”

Boyer pitched a scoreless inning for the Legion all-starts in a 13-2 loss to the Anchorage Bucs of the Alaska Baseball League. Following with a dominant five innings on Friday, Thompson said he’s pleased the ace didn’t have to throw too many pitches between the two games.

In that explosive fifth inning, Boyer led off with a hard single, followed by a single from Ben Ross. Jacob Butcher bunted his way to first to load the bases, setting the table for McJimsey. Gall hit McJimsey to push in a runner and give the Road Warriors a 2-0 lead. That was quickly extended to 4-0 by the next batter, Shane Andrews, who belted a 2-run single.

Like an avalanche, the hits that were so hard to get the first four innings were raining on the Chugiak defense. Hanson singled, as did Dalton McHugill. Connor Cimmiyotti, on the mound for Chugiak in relief of Gall, walked Russ Ruta with the bases loaded and a throwing error allowed Hanson to steal home.

That brought Boyer up for the second time in the inning, and he delivered with an RBI and reached base on an error. Ross ended a stellar game at the plate with his second hit of the inning, a hard single, that scored two and gave the Road Warriors the 10-0 win.

On the night, Ross finished 2-for-3 with 2 RBI, while Boyer hit 2-for-4 with an RBI and pitched the complete-game shutout. Butcher also had a 2-hit game for Wasilla.

“I never doubt these guys anymore, because they can score in a hurry,” Thompson said after the win. “The bats were horribly silent (in the early innings). I mean, we were hitting chest-high bouncers to their infielders all day. But that’s what this team does, it explodes for big runs. … When these guys start clicking, they get runs in a hurry.”

Cooper Hanson’s lucky pants

Aside from strong pitching and hitting, the undefeated Alaska Road Warriors may have had a little extra mojo on their side to start the season. It seems left fielder Cooper Hanson decided not to tempt fate with an if-its-not-broken-don’t-fix-it approach — which apparently includes not washing his uniform pants.

“We have one guy who hasn’t wanted to wash his pants,” Thompson said. “He didn’t wash them these last two games and I called him on it. He said that he’d hand-wash them, then, because of superstition (that a machine will wash the luck out of the pants). Well, that may be his, but it’s my superstition that if you don’t wash them, you’re not going to be in the game.”

The Road Warriors play again today against Kenai, a 12:30 p.m. start at the Midnight Sun Tournament in Fairbanks, and Thompson said he’s confident Hanson will be playing in a clean uniform.

Contact Greg Johnson at 352-2269 or

greg.johnson@frontiersman.com.