Tough outs

PALMER — The Palmer Moose have turned their baseball program around, on the verge of doing something special in the Southcentral Conference. But on Friday, Kodiak spoiled Palmer’s shot at school history.

Kodiak used a 6-3 win over the Moose during the Southcentral Conference Championships semifinals at Hermon Brothers Field in Palmer Friday to punch its state tournament ticket and prevent the Moose from advancing to state for the first time.

“I still believe we were the best team in the conference. We just didn’t always play the other side of the ball like we should have. We just didn’t play both sides of the ball at the same time,” Palmer head coach Dave Combs said after the loss. “We’d show flashes. We just didn’t get it done when we needed to.”

Palmer ended the regular season as the No. 2 seed in the North Division and was the only Southcentral team to beat Kodiak in conference play during the regular season. But on Friday, Kodiak, the top seed from the South, was able to get by the Moose.

The Bears posted an early 3-0 lead and tacked on a pair of runs in the fourth en route to earning their second straight state tournament bid and fifth since 2004.

Kodiak’s Mikel Garner singled and scored on a Pat Pickett double in the first inning to give the Bears the 1-0 lead.

Ralphael Matuatia reached on an error to lead off the second and scored on a Dylan Kavanaugh sacrifice fly to push the lead to a pair of runs. David Sweeney walked and scored to make it 3-0.

Greg Prickett legged out an infield single to lead off the third and scored on a Tim Rockey single to put the Moose on the scoreboard.

Kodiak was able to push its lead to 5-1 in the fourth with runs from Sweeney and Austin Cowley.

Palmer trailed by four runs heading into the fifth, but was able to slice that deficit. Luke Huen sent a sharp single just inside of first base and later stole home when Kodiak threw to second trying to catch Kevin Montgomery stealing.

Montgomery, who reached on an error, scored on a David Media single.

Rockey and Media collected back-to-back singles and gave the Moose runners on second and third with one out. Combs said he could have tried to squeeze a runner in at the point, but that late in the game, Palmer really needed two runs.

“I didn’t want to give up an out,” Combs said. “But I guess hindsight is 20/20.”

Alec Eastman singled and scored in the bottom of the fifth to give the Bears an insurance run.

Despite the loss, Combs saw tremendous improvement throughout the 2011 season, but said the Moose struggled to put a full game together.

“It’s a success, the season, even though we didn’t make the state tournament, which was our goal,” Combs said. “It was a very successful season. I’m proud of the way the team played.”

The Moose made significant strides at the plate, finishing with a team batting average of .365.

Prickett led the Southcentral Conference in stolen bases. Media and Rockey were ranked 1-2 in RBI during the regular season. Combs said the Moose need to take the next step.

“I know where I need to get better. We got better with the bat, we’ll keep doing that,” Combs said. “Now we’ve got to emphasize defense.”

Contact Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman sports editor Jeremiah Bartz at sports@frontiersman.com and follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/matsu_sports.