High school baseball action Friday and Saturday continued to build anticipation for the Southcentral Conference tournament, which begins May 25 in Palmer.
Friday in Kodiak, the Bears scored five runs in the bottom of the seventh inning to walk off 9-8 on Soldotna. Also Friday at Colony, Homer notched an 8-7 victory over the Knights in eight innings, scoring the winning run on an error with two outs. Saturday, host Wasilla toppled Homer 14-4 in five innings.
SoHi’s loss clinches the top seed from the Southern Division for Kenai, which finished 7-3 in conference. After that, SoHi is No. 2 at 6-4, while Homer and Kodiak are tied at 5-5.
In Kodiak, the Bears led 1-0 after two innings and 3-1 after four innings. But the Stars broke things open in the top of the fifth inning with six runs for a 7-3 lead. Kodiak cut it to 7-4 after six innings, but SoHi got an insurance run in the top of the seventh before the Bears staged the dramatic comeback.
Cody Quelland got the start for the Stars, going six innings and giving up five runs — three earned — on two hits while striking out five and walking six. Caleb Spence took the loss in relief, going two-thirds of an inning and giving up two earned runs on two hits.
The big blow in the bottom of the seventh was a bases-clearing triple by Mitchell Kane with one away. Kane would then score on a grounder by Nevin Lee. Kane also got the win on the mound, going two-thirds of an inning and giving up a hit and a walk.
Spence was 2 for 5 with two runs and two RBIs, while Quelland was 2 for 3 with two runs and David Michael was 2 for 4 with a run and an RBI. Joel Sisson added a pair of RBIs for the Stars.
Homer 7, Colony 6, 8 inn.
The Mariners won their third game in four tries by coming back from a 5-0 deficit.
Homer battled back to tie the game in the fifth, then took a 6-5 lead in the sixth before Colony forged a tie in the seventh.
In the eighth, Woape Huffman walked, stole second, went to third on a grounder by Seth Adkins and scored on a two-out error on a grounder by Mose Hayes.
Joe Ravin pitched the eighth inning for the win. Garrett Butcher had pitched the first seven for the Mariners.
Wasilla 14, Homer 4, 5 inn.
A patient Warriors lineup was too much for the Mariners.
Seth Adkins got the start, and seven walks in two innings, plus a hit, led to six runs.
“It’s pretty tough to compete when you give up that many free bases,” Homer coach Rich Sonnen said.
Doug Dean pitched the last three innings, giving up eight runs on seven hits.
The Warriors held the Mariners to four hits — one apiece from Joe Ravin, Kyle Wells, Dean and Adkins.
“Wasilla showed us a couple of areas where we are still weak,” Sonnen said. “We’ll hit those in practice on Monday and Tuesday, stay sharp and get ready to go up to the tournament.”
