Warriors sleepwalk to win

WASILLA — Not all wins are good ones.

After watching his team sleepwalk past a punchless Bartlett squad Wednesday at McManus Field, Alaska Road Warriors manager Steve Mossburgh could only scratch his head.

“I don’t know what the problem is,” Mossburgh said of his team, which improved to 7-5 in league play with the 11-1 victory.

Although the Road Warriors ended the game after six innings due to the mercy rule, Mossburgh was decidedly unhappy with his team’s lackadaisical attitude against the Golden Bears, which have just two wins to their credit this season.

“This team has the talent to be No. 1 or No. 2 in the league,” he said. “It’s very frustrating because I know what these guys are capable of.”

Right fielder Jaron Christensen had three of Alaska’s 10 hits in the game, but the team’s 3-4-5 hitters combined for just two hits in 12 plate appearances. First baseman Mike Dotson’s double off Scott Cade in the sixth inning was the team’s only extra-base hit of the evening.

Designated hitter Chris Breck and second baseman Kyle Bovy each had two hits for the Road Warriors.

Alaska wasn’t able to put Bartlett away until the sixth, when the Road Warriors took advantage of Cade’s mound meltdown to score five unearned runs and end the game.

The five Alaska runs came on just one hit against Cade, who walked four consecutive batters after Chris Bydlon struck out and advanced safely to first base on what would have been the final out of the inning.

Cade also threw four wild pitches in the frame.

Alaska’s mediocre showing at the plate was masked by a dominant pitching performance by starter Wes Smith, who picked up a complete-game victory in only his second appearance of the season.

Smith, the team’s regular catcher, has been battling an injury to his left shoulder, and was unavailable to hit or play in the field Wednesday.

“I can’t play any other positions, and I can’t hit right now, so that’s basically all I can do,” Smith said. “Might as well use your arm if you got it.”

But the strong-armed right-hander had no trouble mowing down Bartlett hitters with a solid fastball and curve that consistently broke across the plate for a strike.

“Wes threw a real good game,” Mossburgh said. “I was proud of the way he threw.”

Smith struck out 10 Bartlett hitters, walked one and allowed just three base hits.

He also hit two batters.

Bartlett’s lone run scored on a first-inning error by third baseman Colter Peterson, who bobbled the ball while trying to throw James May out at the plate.

Smith’s only real trouble came in the top of the sixth, when he walked Christian Cecil and allowed Kyle Mansfield to single to open the inning. But Smith, who recently completed his junior year at Saguaro High in Scottsdale, Ariz., struck out the next three Bartlett hitters to quash the rally.

Alaska couldn’t manage any runs until the third inning against Golden Bears starter P.J. Sebastian, and much of Mossburgh’s frustration with the game had to do with his team’s inability to hit the Bartlett junkballer, whose fastball could have been clocked with a sundial.

“I don’t think we’ve seen anybody that throws the ball that slow,” Mossburgh said.

But instead of sitting back on Sebastian’s slow curve ball, Alaska’s big hitters consistently lunged at pitches, apparently trying to knock the cover off the ball. It didn’t work, as a parade of Alaska hitters rapped easy fly balls into the Bartlett outfield or grounded out to the left side of the infield.

“We didn’t look very good against that guy,” Mossburgh said.

Alaska took a 2-1 lead in the third on a pair of back-to-back singles by Christensen and Breck, a walk to left fielder Corey Cowgill and a pair of RBI sacrifice fly balls from Dotson and catcher Kody Ziter.

The Road Warriors picked up two more runs in the fourth, scoring one run on a passed ball and getting yet another sacrifice fly, this time off the bat of Cowgill. The team then started to stretch its lead out in the fifth, getting another two-run inning on the strength of RBI singles from Christensen and Bovy.

The floodgates opened in the sixth, as the Road Warriors sent nine batters to the plate against Cade, who became visibly frustrated after his strikeout of Bydlon got past catcher Josh Miranda on what should have been the final out of the inning.

Despite the big win, Wes Smith said the Road Warriors still have a long way to go before they can be considered one of the state’s elite teams.

“We need to pick it up,” Smith said. “It’s really just focus. This game we should have won in five innings with no contest.”

The win — the team’s second in its past five league games — moved the Road Warriors into a fourth-place tie with Kenai in the 11-team league.

Smith said he believes the team is capable of playing better, and said he thinks the Road Warriors’ mid-season troubles will be long forgotten by season’s end.

“We just need to pick it up a little,” he said.

Chugiak 9, Alaska 7

WASILLA — The Road Warriors blew a four-run lead over the state’s top American Legion team as the Mustangs used a five-run sixth inning to pull out a 9-7 win at McManus Field on Tuesday.

“We had that team beat and we gave it away,” Mossburgh said.

The loss was the second of the year for the Road Warriors against Chugiak, the team that knocked Alaska out of the state tournament last season. Both games were close until late-inning meltdowns doomed the Road Warriors.

“We didn’t close the door,” Alaska’s Wes Smith said. “We kind of lost focus in those middle innings.”

The Mustangs won despite committing five errors in the game. Alaska was error-free. Corey Cowgill, Eric Washington and J.D. Mayo each had doubles for the Road Warriors.

Chugiak improved to 11-1 in league play with the victory. The two teams face each other once more this season, a seven-inning, non-league game scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Monday at Oberg Field in Peters Creek.

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

CHUGIAK 9, ALASKA 7

Tuesday

Alaska 401 020 000 — 7 9 0

Chugiak 003 005 01X — 9 9 5

ALASKA 11, BARTLETT 1

Wednesday

ALASKA AB R H BI

Christensen rf 3 1 3 1

Breck dh 3 1 2 0

Rodamer dh 1 0 0 0

Cowgill lf 2 0 0 1

Dotson 1b 3 1 1 1

Ziter c 3 1 1 1

Peterson 3b 3 0 1 0

Bydlon 3b 1 1 0 0

Stefanski cf 2 2 0 0

Bovy 2b 2 2 2 1

Vance ss 2 2 0 1

Totals 25 11 10 6

BARTLETT AB R H AB

May 3b 3 1 1 0

Cecil lf 2 0 0 0

Mansfield ss,p 3 0 1 0

Collins cf 2 0 0 0

Cloud 2b 2 0 0 0

Cade 1b,p 3 0 0 0

Sebastian p 2 0 0 0

Miranda c 1 0 0 0

McEwen rf 2 0 1 0

Totals 21 1 3 0

Bartlett 100 000 — 1 3 2

Alaska 002 225 — 11 10 3

Two out when game-ending run scored.

E — Ziter, Peterson, Vance, May, Miranda. 2B — Dotson. SB — Collins (2), May, Cecil, Peterson, Bydlon, Cowgill, Bovy. CS — Mansfield. SAC — Dotson, Ziter, Cowgill. LOB — Alaska 8, Bartlett 5.

Alaska IP H R ER BB K

W. Smith (W) 6 3 1 0 1 10

Bartlett IP H R ER BB K

Sebastian (L) 4 6 4 3 3 1

Mansfield 1 3 2 2 0 2

Cade .2 1 5 0 4 2

HBP — Collins (by Smith), Miranda (by Smith), Bovy (by Sebastian). WP — Cade (4), Mansfield. PB — Miranda (3), Ziter.

Alaska American Legion standings

Team W L

Chugiak 11 1

South 8 3

Dimond 8 4

Wasilla 7 5

Kenai 7 5

Fairbanks 6 4

East 5 7

Service 4 8

West 3 6

Bartlett 2 9

Eagle River 1 9