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Staff report

The American Legion Twins were eliminated from the Alaska State Tournament Friday after a 6-5 loss to Chugiak.

The Twins end their season with a 31-19 record after coming up just one game short of getting to the final day of the tournament.

The Twins grabbed a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the second inning, but Chugiak came back with four runs in the top of the third inning against starter Shawn Issacs.

Chugiak bumped the lead to 5-1 in the fifth inning. The deficit would have been worse, but Kevin Epperheimer was able to come on in relief of Issacs and get out of a bases-loaded jam.

The Twins then rallied in the bottom of the fifth inning, scoring four runs to tie the game. There were RBI base hits in the inning by Luke Gilbert and Erich Simpson.

In the eighth inning, Chugiak's Kevin Dana had the game-winning single off Epperheimer.

The Mustangs then went to Conor Spink, who struck out five of the seven batters he faced to close out the Twins.

Twins coach John Kennedy said the Twins hurt themselves on the base paths in the game.

"We didn't execute very well," Kennedy said.

Kennedy also said the breaks were not going his team's way. Two bloop singles keyed the winning rally in the eighth inning.

"I'm just extremely proud of what the kids did this year," Kennedy said. "Mike Smith, the pitching coach, was an instrumental part of the improvement we made in just one year. He did an excellent job."

Jacob Madrid was 4-for-5 with a run, Gilbert was 2-for-4 with a run and an RBI, Erich Simpson was 2-for-4 with two doubles and an RBI and Cole Chappell was 2-for-4 with two RBIs.

Jordan Waters also got on base seven of the eight times he came to the plate in the tournament.

Kennedy said he is optimistic about next season. Of the 14 players, eight will return.

CHUGIAK 6, TWINS 5

Chugiak 004 010 010 — 6 7 3

Twins 010 040 000 — 5 11 5

Morgan, Martin (5), Spink (8) and Kucko; Issacs, Epperheimer (5), E. Simpson (9) and Ju. Simpson. W — Martin. S — Spink. L — Epperheimer. 2B — Twins: Ju. Simpson, E. Simpson 2, Chappell. LOB — Chugiak 10, Twins 7.

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