Warriors beat Pioneers in 4th of July baseball at Hermon Brothers

PALMER — Despite the lack of Alaska Baseball League season for the Mat-Su Miners to play in, a baseball game took place at Hermon Brothers Field on Independence Day between the Palmer Pioneers and the Alaska Road Warriors in an Alliance matchup between two rival teams.

Wasilla won 4-2 behind the bat of Nolan Murphy, who also finished the game on the mound. Wasilla standout Clayton Boyett was injured in the first inning.

“To be able to play Palmer on 4th of July, what a turnout. There was quite a bit of people here with everybody missing the Miners and everything, I mean it was good for the community so a good tight ball game a little fireworks and it was good,” said Wasilla post manager Ken Ottinger.

Wasilla’s Jacob Gilbert and Palmer’s Ben Alley were locked in a pitchers duel for the majority of the game, until Nolan Murphy broke the tie in the fourth inning with a triple that scored A.J. Comacho. Gilbert struck out the last two batters to end the second inning with runners in scoring position and again finished the fifth inning with two strikeouts.

Palmer narrowly avoided allowing the Road Warriors to score when shortstop Kaden Ketchum fielded the ball near second base and turned a double play with a runner on third base. After Murphy tripled to deep right center, Waylon Payne drove in Murphy to give Wasilla the 2-0 lead. Murphy had two hits, tied for the lead with Comacho.

“That kid’s been lights out at the plate all year. He got on the weights, he’s been eating, he’s put some muscle on and that kid’s got some pop in his stick,” said Ottinger. “He’s been clutch.”

Gilbert struck out eight Pioneers hitters over five innings. Wasilla still sits at third in the National Division of Alliance baseball with a 3-1 league record and 13 points, trailing Dimond and West with 14 points each at 3-2. Wasilla’s overall record is 14-1. With the loss on Saturday, Palmer now stands at 6-7 overall and 2-3 in league play which is also good for third place in the American Division of Alliance baseball. Palmer trails American Division leader South and Kenai.

“It feels great. It feels great it’s good to see baseball on our national holiday, our national birthday,” said Mat-Su Miners General Manager Pete Christopher. “It’s sad that the Miners and the rest of the league isn’t playing but this was a good game today.”

Miners booster club members worked the snack shack and sold potatoes for what was billed as the Potato Bowl of Baseball, in reference to the annual Palmer-Wasilla high school football rivalry.

The fans seated many who wanted to watch baseball on July 4th, but clumps of families and fans were disbursed throughout the stands at Hermon Brothers Field. With the absence of the Miners at Hermon Brothers, the Christopher has allowed Palmer’s Post 15 baseball team to use the picturesque field for their home games this season, and plan to continue to allow the Pioneers to use the field for games on Miners off days in the future. Palmer manager Matt McLaughlin said that working with the Miners has been beneficial to his team.

“It’s been phenomenal. I can’t stress enough how much I appreciate what they’ve done for us, for baseball in general in the Valley, but to step out like they have this year to give us this opportunity is incredible,” said McLaughlin.

Gilbert was relieved on the mound by Nolan Murphy, who recorded the save for Wasilla. The two held Palmer to just two hits and two runs over seven innings. Ben Alley pitched 4 and innings for the Pioneers, navigating through one of the highest scoring offenses in the state and allowing only four runs. Alley was relieved by incoming Palmer High junior Landon Guggenmos who recorded the lone strikeout for Pioneers pitchers and older brother Luke Guggenmos finished the game on the mound for Palmer.

“It’s meant a lot to be able to preserve baseball and to have somebody using the field because it’s a beautiful field,” said Denise Christopher. “So many people in the community give to us, it’s nice when we can give back.”

Andre Brown singled in a run in the bottom of the sixth inning for Wasilla and Waylon Payne scored on a balk. The Pioneers scored both of their runs in the sixth inning when Alley scored on an error and Ketchum scored Luke Guggenmos.