Road Warriors win wild one

WASILLA — Good things happen when you don’t quit.

The Alaska Road Warriors Post 35 American Legion team proved that Saturday, scoring twice in the ninth inning to tie the game, then getting a go-ahead sacrifice fly from Jaron Christensen in the 10th to pull out a wild 12-11 win over Service in the Todd Ryan Memorial tournament at McManus Field in Wasilla.

“I am proud of them guys. They played this game the way I’ve been trying to get ‘em to play all year long,” Alaska manager Steve Mossburgh said following the game.

Colter Peterson gave up three runs — all unearned — in six innings of relief to pick up the win for the Road Warriors, which won despite committing a season-high eight errors and leaving 13 runners on base.

“He came in there and shut them down,” Mossburgh said of Peterson, who gave up six hits, struck out two and walked just one.

Mossburgh said what most impressed him about his team’s effort was how the Road Warriors refused to hang their heads, even after falling behind 5-1 after the first three innings.

“They did what they had to do to win that game,” Mossburgh said.

The Road Warriors banged out 19 hits in the game, getting at least three hits from five different players.

“We hit the cover off the ball today,” Mossburgh said.

Third baseman Mike Dotson went 3-for-5 with a home run, triple, three runs scored and two RBI; catcher Kody Ziter had four hits and three runs scored; first baseman Cole Smith went 3-for-5 with three RBI and a pair of doubles; designated hitter Tommy Rodamer was 3-for-5 with two runs scored and two RBI; left fielder Cory Cowgill had three hits and scored a run; center fielder Eric Washington had two hits and two RBI; and right fielder J.D. Mayo went 1-for-4 with a run scored and an RBI.

“I told ‘em I could have given a game ball to every one of them,” Mossburgh said.

Each team got a run in the second inning before the Cougars broke things open with four runs in the bottom of the third, tagging Alaska starter Chris Breck for five hits and getting help from a pair of Road Warriors errors in the inning.

“We’ve definitely got to cut down on the mental errors,” Mossburgh said.

Alaska fought back for two runs in the fourth, then briefly took the lead with four runs in the top of the fifth on the strength of singles by Dotson, Rodamer, Ziter and Smith, whose two-run, two-out single chased Service starter Tanner Hamilton from the game with the Road Warriors ahead 7-5.

But Service again took the lead in fifth inning, getting a leadoff triple from shortstop Chase Barrus and back-to-back walks to Josh Almeda and Chase Van Allen to end Breck’s outing.

Peterson came on in relief and promptly gave up a two-run double to Evan Nerland, who was 4-for-6 on the day. The Cougars got another run on catcher Kevin Neally’s groundout, and went up 9-7 on Smith’s error at first.

Alaska scratched one run across in the seventh on an RBI single by Washington, but quickly gave two back in the bottom of the inning with three consecutive errors.

Dotson turned the momentum back in the Road Warriors favor with one out in the eighth, ripping relief pitcher Roman Toliver’s offering high and deep over the left field wall for a solo shot to cut the lead to 11-9.

“I was just being patient,” Dotson said. “I wasn’t swinging at the first pitch.”

Peterson shut Service down in their half of the eighth, leaving Alaska needing a pair of runs to stay alive.

Pinch hitter Rhowe Stefanski walked to start the inning, and pinch runnner Wes Smith alertly advanced to third on shortstop Chris Bydlon’s groundout.

Cole Smith then ripped his second double of the game into right field to score Smith from third, sending the already boisterous Road Warriors dugout into a frenzy.

“That’s when we knew we had a chance to win the game,” Dotson said.

Smith advanced to third on a wild pitch, then scored on Washington’s second RBI single of the game. Peterson got consecutive nice plays in the infield from Dotson and Bydlon to end the ninth, setting up Christensen’s game-winning sacrifice, which was just deep enough to score Ziter from third.

The Road Warriors’ strong defense continued into the 10th, as Bydlon fielded a sharp ground ball off the bat of Nerland, stepped on second and threw to Smith at first for a game-ending double play.

The victory came at a good time for the Road Warriors, which had lost its last two league games.

“It’s huge because we’ve been in a little slump lately, so coming out of it shows a real team effort,” Dotson said.

The win helped Alaska improve to 9-5 overall on the season and 1-1 in the Todd Ryan tournament. The Road Warriors lost 10-3 to Fairbanks on Friday.

Alaska was set to play East Saturday night, but the game was still in progress as of press time.

In other tournament action this week, Napoleon, Ohio, picked up convincing wins over the Independence Day holiday weekend, beating Service 10-0 on Friday and blanking Fairbanks 11-0 Saturday.

Alaska and Napoleon will play at 5 p.m. today in the tournament’s finale.

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

ALASKA 12, SERVICE 11 (10 innings)

Saturday, McManus Field

Alaska 010 240 112 1 — 12 19 8

Service 014 040 200 0 — 11 15 6

Alaska: Breck, Peterson (5) and Ziter. Service: Hamilton, Grenier (5), Toliver (7), Barrus (9) and Neally. W: Peterson. L: Barrus. 2B — Cole Smith (2), Nerland, Miller, Van Allen, Mauer, Beard. 3B — Dotson, Ziter, Barrus. HR — Dotson. SB — Miller. CS — Almeda. Sac — Bovy (2), Christensen, Beard. LOB — Alaska 13, Service 10.