The Homer Mariners took another step to clinching a strong seed in the region baseball tournament with an 8-6 victory Wednesday night over Soldotna.
Homer moved its season tally to 4-1 in the league and 5-3 overall, while SoHi dropped to 2-3 and 3-4-1 overall.
The win was Homer’s fourth in a row, all against Southcentral Conference opponents, and it avenged an 8-1 loss to SoHi in late April.
“It’s a huge win for us,” said Homer head coach Rich Sonnen. “Anytime you can beat Soldotna, that’s good.”
Mose Hayes tossed five innings for Homer on the mound, giving up five runs and whiffing six. Joe Ravin finished the last two frames in relief.
Logan Smith, who threw a one-hitter in his last appearance, got the start for SoHi.
Playing with a 5-all tie into the bottom of the sixth, Homer plated three runs and held on from there. Landon Bunting drew a leadoff walk for the Mariners, Ravin beat out a bunt, Hayes bunted into a fielders choice and Seth Adkins loaded the bases with a single.
Adam Brinster knocked in the game-winning run with an RBI single, and Spencer Warren scored two more with a single before SoHi was able to get the remaining two outs.
The Stars threatened in the top of the seventh, starting with a leadoff walk to Jake Marcuson. Hunter Thompson popped out to left, but Caleb Spence and Jeremy Kupferschmid loaded the bases with a pair of singles, and Cody Quelland forced in a run with a walk.
With the tying run on second, Ravin got out of the jam with a pop out to David Michael and struck out Brandon Crowder to end the game.
