With the Alaska Baseball League American League pennant out of their reach, the Peninsula Oilers sure don’t look like they have nothing to play for.
The Oilers mounted a comeback win over the Alaska Goldpanners of Fairbanks with a 5-4 victory Wednesday night at Coral Seymour Memorial Park in Kenai.
A walkoff single by Ted Boeke with the bases loaded provided the spark, and Boeke was treated to a Gatorade shower after.
“I was just looking for a fastball, something I could hit,” Boeke said in a post game interview on ESPN 1140 AM. “Luckily I got it and didn’t miss it.”
Boeke went 3 for 3 at the plate, and was walked twice to get on base a total of five times.
“It’s fun to come out here and get boosted up with our teammates, it was fun for us,” Boeke said.
With four games left in the season, starting with a doubleheader tonight at 5 p.m. with the Panners, the Oilers (16-19) are guaranteed to finish second in the division, as the Anchorage Bucs (21-14) are five games ahead. Peninsula secured only its third win in the last nine games.
Brian Ruhm began the late drama with a booming leadoff triple — which tied the Oilers single-season record of six — that landed on the warning track. Ruhm’s triple tied him with Mike Parker in 1977, Danny Garcia in 1999 and Jeremy Reed in 2000 for the team record.
From there, Mark Sanchez was walked and James Fowlkes was intentionally walked by Panners reliever A.J. Franks to load the bases with one out. Boeke’s hit brought in Ruhm for the tying run and Sanchez for the winning run.
Paul Lujan secured the win on the mound with one inning of relief, giving up no hits and getting one strikeout. David Diaz started the opening 4 1-3 innings with two hits, one earned run and two strikeouts.
A leadoff double by Brent Diaz in the second inning spurred a three-run inning by the Oilers, but Fairbanks rallied back with four runs in the top of the fifth to take a 4-3 lead, which held up until the final moments of the game.
Even with the win, the Oilers stranded 12 men on base for the game, while the Panners left six on base.
Wednesday
Oilers 5, Goldpanners 4
Panners AB R H BI Oilers AB R H BI
Csto cf 4 1 1 0 Sfrt 2b 5 0 0 0
Bush 1b 4 0 0 1 Ruhm rf 4 1 1 0
Mrtz c 4 0 0 0 Schz dh 4 1 2 0
Obn rf 3 0 0 0 Diaz c 5 0 2 0
Jnes 3b 4 0 1 0 Fwks cf 4 0 0 0
Rbts dh 4 0 0 0 Bke 3b 3 1 3 2
Hrn 2b 3 1 2 0 Arwd 1b 2 1 1 0
Crlo ss 3 1 0 0 Olvr 1b 1 0 0 0
Smnr lf 3 1 0 0 Wlsn lf 2 1 0 0
— Glky ss 4 0 1 1
Totals 32 4 4 1 Totals 34 5 10 3
Panners 000 040 000 —4
Oilers 030 000 002 —5
HP — O’Banion (1), Carrillo (3), Wilson 2 (6). SB — Boeke 2 (10). CS — Fowlkes 2 (4). E — Jones (6), Boeke (7), Arrowood 2 (4). LOB — Goldpanners 6, Oilers 12.
IP H R ER BB SO
Panners
Hingst 7.0 7 3 2 3 6
Franks, L 1.1 3 2 2 2 1
Oilers
Diaz 4.1 2 4 1 3 2
VanStone 2.2 1 0 0 0 3
Michel 1.0 1 0 0 0 0
Lujan, W 1.0 0 0 0 0 1
T — 2:39.
