The Alaska Goldpanners faced off against Team Philippines in the second game of their final home series on Wednesday. In a game where runs were hard to come by, the Goldpanners found timely success to pick up their fifth straight win by a score of 5-2.
The winning streak comes off the back of their first home series loss of the season, which came to the Sawtooth Sockeyes, where the team lost three of five games from July 10-14. For Goldpanners’ field manager Carlos Gonzales, the series defeat turned out to be the ultimate motivating force for his team, who have now won five games in a row since then to move their record to 22-10-2.
“When we lost the series to the Sawtooth team, I think our guys took it personally,” Gonzales said. “That’s a big deal, especially as the coach. To have your players buy in like that – it gives me confidence. I think the guys just working hard and grinding is a big deal.”
In the bottom of the first, the Goldpanners jumped ahead. Grant Scholzen knocked in an RBI with a single, driving in Bubba Rocha who knocked a leadoff double, and Matt Lieterman brought in another on a fielder’s choice. The hosts led 2-0 heading into the second.
After a quick start, the Goldpanners’ offense went quiet. It was a pitchers’ duel as both lineups struggled to string together any success as both starters rolled along for their respective teams.
Manny Lopez, the starter for Alaska, went four scoreless innings on the mound with seven strikeouts, two walks, three hits and no earned runs allowed. He struck out over a third of the batters he faced, punching out seven of 17 hitters faced.
He was followed by Paxton Fenberg, who continued the strong pitching performances, going 2.1 innings with only one hit allowed with three strikeouts and three walks. The pitching staff was complemented by clean defensive play in the field, which Gonzales believed was the key to victory.
“I thought we defended finally,” Goldpanners field manager Carlos Gonzales said of his team’s performance. “We had a complete game defensively, and to me, that was the main factor. Obviously, the pitching was really good today as well.”
Two solo shots in the seventh advanced the lead for the Goldpanners. Both Jacob Badawi and Griffin Harrison cleared the wall to make it a 4-0 ballgame. It ended Hunter Kirkpatrick’s start for Team Philippines. Outside of the first and seventh innings, he was strong throughout, keeping the Goldpanners scoreless for five consecutive trips to the plate (7 IP, 7H, 4ER, 2BB, 1K).
A Matt Chavez sacrifice fly in the bottom of the eighth brought in an insurance run before going into the ninth. A passed ball and fielder’s choice provided two scores for the visitors in their last trip to the plate, denying the shutout for Alaska, but they couldn’t close the gap any further as they fell 5-2.
At the plate, the Goldpanners collected eight hits as a team with Bubba Rocha leading the way in a 3-4 performance with two doubles. The home runs of Badawi and Harrison and a double from Matt Leiterman added to the extra-base hit total, seeing the Goldpanners finish with five of their eight hits being of the extra-base variety.
“I know we have bats. There’s no lack of confidence for us,” Rocha said postgame when speaking on the offensive production for his squad. “It’s just a matter of when [the production] comes by. It’s contagious with this team. You see one guy hit and it gives the next guy confidence to just go up there and hack.”
The win made it five in a row for the Goldpanners. They continue their series against Team Philippines on Thursday at 6:30 p.m.
Contact Caleb Jones at (907) 459-7530 or at cjones@newsminer.com.
