Walk-off hit gives Road Warriors win

WASILLA — Alaska Road Warriors manager Steve Mossburgh is slowly getting a makeover, one scary inning at a time.

“My hair's falling out, and they're giving me more gray hairs,” Mossburgh said after watching his team recover from a ninth-inning collapse to beat East 11-10 Saturday at McManus Field in Wasilla.

Road Warriors catcher Wes Smith drove a one-out, 2-0 pitch from East reliever Shayne Tuck over the head of right fielder Patrick McFarland, scoring Chris Bydlon and Jaron Christensen to give the Warriors the victory.

“He's the captain of this team and he's the one I expect to come through and do that,” Mossburgh said of Smith, who recently completed his junior year at Saguaro High in Scottsdale, Ariz.

Smith's big hit saved the Road Warriors from taking a bitter defeat. After handing starter Cole Smith a 6-0 lead after two innings, the Mat-Su squad sleepwalked its way through the middle of the game, slowly allowing the T-Birds back in.

“For three or four innings there we coasted,” Wes Smith said.

East collected two runs in the third, then picked up a run both the sixth and seventh innings against Cole Smith, who was lifted in the sixth in favor of Kody Ziter.

Cole Smith was in line for the win after leaving, having given up four runs in six-and-a-third innings. The Palmer High graduate also gave up six hits, walked five and struck out two.

Alaska scratched together runs of its own in the sixth and seventh. The Road Warriors gave one back in the eighth, and Alaska took an 8-5 lead into the final inning.

Then disaster struck.

Ziter walked Franklin Viscaiano, allowed a single and promptly hit the No. 8 hitter to load the bases. Ziter forced the following Thunderbird hitter to pop out, but East picked up a run when Wes Smith tried to pick off the runner at second base.

His throw got away from shortstop Zach Vance, allowing the speedy Viscaiano to easily score from third.

East followed with a single, and cut Alaska’s lead to 8-7 when Ziter walked Rick Santos with the bases loaded.

Colter Peterson came in to relieve Ziter, and promptly gave up a rare two-RBI fielder's choice to Austin Cassaday, who narrowly beat out what would have been a game-ending double-play ball. Cassaday later scored on Danial Pohl's two-out single, leaving the Road Warriors down 10-8 going into their final at-bat.

And then Wes Smith bailed the Warriors out.

The Alaska catcher who played at Colony during his first two years of high school said he was just hoping to get a pitch he could get out of the infield to try and get one run across.

“I was just looking for something to drive,” he said.

Mossburgh said he wasn't happy with giving up the lead, but knew his squad had the firepower to mount a comeback. In four games this season, the Road Warriors have scored at least 10 runs three times.

“This team's a good-hitting team,” he said.

Peterson picked up the win for his two-third of an inning, while Tuck retired just one batter and gave up three runs to take the loss.

Smith finished the game 2-for-4 with three RBI; Christensen was 2-for-3 with two runs scored and a pair of sacrifices; Bydlon scored three runs and Ziter was 1-for-4 with a pair of RBI.

The win gave Alaska its second victory in a row. Alaska scored a 14-11 win over the Eagle River Wolves on Friday at Oberg Field in Eagle River.

Ziter was 2-for-5 with 3 runs scored to lead the Road Warriors against the Wolves. Alaska is now 3-1 on the season, and Mossburgh thinks that if his team can cut down on its mental lapses, it could be among the best in the state this summer.

"There's no team in Alaska better than these guys if they come and play hard," he said.

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

ALASKA 11, EAST 10

Saturday, Lou McManus Field

East 002 001 115 — 10 11 7

Alaska 060 001 103 — 11 10 3

WP: Peterson. LP: Tuck