ROLLIN’ IN THE RAIN

PALMER — Colony senior Colton Conner threw a gem. But it’s the Sitka Wolves who are heading to the championship semifinals.

Peterson pitched seven strong innings and recorded a career high 14 strikeouts, but Sitka pieced together six runs on seven hits to grab the 6-2 win over the Knights during the first round of the ASAA/First National Bank State Baseball Championships at Hermon Brothers Field in Palmer on Thursday.

“When a guy throws as well as he threw, you don’t deserve to lose,” Colony head coach Jaime Mayo said after the loss, which put the Knights into a consolation semifinal match with Lathrop today at 1 p.m. at Hermon Brothers. “But we knew Sitka’s a good team. They’re not going to make a whole lot of mistakes, and we made a couple mistakes.”

Sitka did the bulk of its damage in the top of the fifth, using four straight singles to push three runners across the plate to take the 6-2 lead. But as it was most of the way, Sitka didn’t hammer the Colony starter. But when the Wolves made contact, they capitalized.

“They didn’t overpower us, but neither one of us overpowered (the other),” Mayo said.

David Reynolds blooped a ball into center field to drive in a pair of runs for Sitka. Mikalai Patrznski followed with a run-scoring single to left to give the Wolves the 6-2 lead.

With one out in the fifth Luke Clayton drew a walk to start things off for Sitka in the inning. Devon Romaine followed with a single that crept just underneath the glove of Colony shortstop Jonathon Boyer. Michael Matz used a slow roller down the third base line to load the bases. Clayton and

Romaine scored on the Reyonds’ double, while Matz was sent home on the Patrznski single.

Sitka scored a pair of early runs to take a 2-0 in the top of the first, but Colony tied the score in the bottom of the inning. Taylor Palmer led off with a single to left field and later scored on Mike Wagner’s hard strike into left. Kody Ziter was hit by a pitch and scored on a passed ball to tie the score at 2.

Clayton led off the game for the Wolves with a single to center field. The hit, arguably the hardest knock of the game for Sitka, was blasted right over the shoulder of Peterson. Matz used a double to drive in Clayton later in the inning to give the Wolves the 1-0 lead and extended his team’s lead to 2-0 when he scored on a passed ball.

The Wolves managed to do that damage even though Peterson recorded a career high in strikeouts. Peterson fanned batters looking and swinging.

He struck out two batters in six of the seven innings he pitched, and fanned three hitters in the sixth inning.

“When he gets into his rhythm, he’s pretty touch to beat,” Mayo said.

Sitka’s Cole Venneberg tossed a complete game four-hitter to earn the win.

Palmer led the Knights with two hits. Wagner and Boyer also had hits.

“Both the teams hit the ball fairly well, but it was right at people,” Mayo said. “We had a couple balls, they move a couple inches, a foot maybe, and they’re doubles.”

Steady rain caused major delays during the first day of tournament action. Colony was scheduled to play at 7 p.m., but the first pitch was not thrown until just after 8:30. The game finished at 10:45 p.m.

Mayo admitted he was a bit surprised they managed to get the entire game in. It rained off and on throughout the contest, but the game could also have been called due to darkness.

The first game of the tourney was delayed more than two hours due to rain, and that pushed the entire slate of match-ups back.

Heavy rain early in the day delayed first-round action. The third game of the afternoon, a Juneau-Douglas 19-0 win over Kodiak, didn’t go final until just before 8 p.m., an hour after the Colony game was scheduled to start. Juneau starter Miles Bedford tossed a no-hitter as the Crimson Bears rolled the lopsided victory.

In other action, West Valley edged West Anchorage 6-5 and defending state champion Dimond beat Lathrop 6-1.

The tournament continues today when West Anchorage and Kodiak meet at 10 a.m. in the first of two consolation semifinals. Colony follows against Lathrop at 1 p.m.

In the championship semifinals, Juneau plays West Valley at 4 p.m. and Sitka faces Dimond at 7 p.m.

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