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Friday: Goldpanners: 12, All-Stars: 10

Despite losing an early multi-run lead and trailing by as many as five runs, the Alaska Goldpanners rallied for a 12-10 win over the Pro-Am All-Stars on Friday, stretching their winning streak to 10 games with an Independence Day delight.

“Being on the 4th of July, it’s a blessing because without the guys protecting our country, I wouldn’t be able to do this,” winning pitcher Jonah Walker said postgame.

Friday marked the first game this season in which the Goldpanners allowed more than eight runs and still won. Walker pitched the final four innings after getting the Goldpanners out of a troubling fifth frame. After his fellow pitchers allowed nine hits and nine runs in just under five full innings, he held the All-Stars to just one more run and gave up just two of the All-Stars’ 11 hits and none of their five walks.

“I just threw strikes, competed in the zone, made my guys field base hits and make some plays behind me. And then we got some hits,” Walker said. “Just threw strikes, helped the team.”

After stonewalling the All-Stars’ offense in the sixth inning, Walker contributed to the Goldpanners’ push at the plate. With his first collegiate base hit, he batted in the tying run in the seventh inning, a frame in which the Goldpanners piled up seven runs (five of which came after they had two outs).

The Goldpanners batted around in their pivotal seventh inning, opening with a groundout from Efren Ortega. Their run started with Vincent Venverloh being hit by a pitch, and he went home on an RBI double from Lucas Schermer. Alex Garcia, who was walked and stole second base, scored on an RBI groundout from fellow pinch hitter Hunter Friedberg. That trimmed the visitors’ lead to 9-6.

Cole Clark followed with an RBI double, plating Schermer with a ball hit just out of reach of the opposing right fielder. The Goldpanners’ late-arriving Fourth of July party continued with an RBI single from another pinch hitter, Izzy Diaz, making it a one-run game.

Then came a tying RBI single from Walker that got David Shackelford back home from second base. Ortega, who opened the inning with a groundout, then redeemed himself with a go-ahead two-RBI double, providing the last two scores of Alaska’s seven-run seventh inning as Walker came around from first base to join Diaz back in the dugout.

“It was fun to watch that inning,” Goldpanners field manager Carlos Gonzales said postgame. “We came in flat and tired and not good. You don’t want to see that, but we battled at the end and Izzy Diaz and Hunter Friedberg came off the bench today, and they sparked it and they started a big inning for us. It was a big deal. Guys that don’t play every day and they come in and they play and they make good plays. That means something. But I was happy with the result obviously.”

The All-Stars, now trailing, followed up with their third scoreless inning in a row and then changed pitchers. Schermer dove and scored on a sacrifice fly by Clark for the lone run of the eighth inning.

The visitors found some offense in the final frame. CJ Berthon scored after hitting a triple and being driven home by a sacrifice fly that served as the second out of the inning. Shackelford caught a fly ball in center field for the game-winning out in the 12-10 win.

They play the All-Stars every day for a six-game series through Tuesday, July 8.

The Pro-Am All-Stars, wearing an assortment of black and yellow jerseys befitting of an all-star game, opened the game going three up, three down. The Goldpanners did the same due to a double play. Alaska starting pitcher Addison Walker struck out a pair of batters early in the second inning but also walked three batters, allowing the game’s first run in the process.

The Goldpanners got off the field with just that initial run, as Shackelford raced from his place in centerfield to track down a fly ball for the third out.

Alaska quickly took the lead after Ortega got on base with a walk and new addition Jamie Mullin sent a homer just to the right of the 315-yard marker in left field, narrowly in fair territory. The next three ‘Panner batters were either walked or hit by a pitch, loading the bases with one out.

Shackelford followed that up by dropping the ball into a narrow gap for a two-RBI double, which led to one more out when Clark tested his luck and was tagged out short of home plate. Still, the Goldpanners led 4-1 after two innings.

The Goldpanners loaded the bases with two outs in the bottom of the third inning but ended the frame with a flyout.

The All-Stars’ first two batters of the fourth inning singled. Their next two batters popped up and grounded out, but leadoff batter Zack Burrow (who started 0-for-2) notched a three-run homer with two outs and two strikes on the board. That tied the game 4-4 before the Goldpanners got out of the inning. However, the way the ‘Panners defended in the fourth inning carried over to the fifth frame.

Conner Wolf took over on the mound for the Goldpanners to open the fifth inning. Daniel Briones scored on a fielding error, the All-Stars put two runners in scoring position and Nakoa Siuu drove them home with a two-RBI single for a 7-4 lead. The ‘Panners then picked up two outs in relatively short order but allowed two more runs on a missed throw to home plate.

The Goldpanners responded with a pitching change, inserting Jonah Walker, and got out of the inning soon after. Alaska’s offense came up empty, but they forced the All-Stars three up, three down in the sixth inning. After an empty bottom of the sixth inning on Alaska’s end, Walker held serve and gave the offense space to get going again.

Standouts included Clark, Shackelford, Ortega and Mullin, each of whom notched two RBIs, and Schermer, who scored three runs. The ‘Panners recorded fewer hits than the All-Stars (10-to-9) but were walked twice as often (11-to-5) and struck out half as many times as the visitors (6-to-3).

Gonzales said to expect a “roster overhaul” soon after several players (Luke Thiele, Jeremy Maldonado, Andrew Banda, Egan Keeler) departed this week.

Saturday: Goldpanners: 3, All-Stars: 1

For the second day in a row, the Goldpanners fell behind 1-0 after the game’s initial inning.

Pro-Am leadoff hitter Zack Burrow singled and then stole three bases, scoring on a wild pitch. Goldpanners starter Lukas Sarantos struck out his next two batters and prompted a fly out on his fourth.

“Honestly dude, just having fun,” Sarantos, the winning pitcher, said postgame. “All the guys in the dugout, me and [catcher Efren Ortega], got a great connection…Honestly just feeling calm on the mound, not trying to do too much, trusting my stuff right now.”

Ortega was in position to match that single run in the bottom of the first inning, doubling and reaching third base on a balk call, but the batters immediately before and after him hit pop-ups for the second and third outs.

Neither side scored in the second, third, fourth or fifth innings.

Despite hitting a couple of batters and seeing another batter advance on a dropped-third strike, Sarantos got out of the game with only one run and three hits allowed through six innings. Facing a full count and two men in scoring position, he struck out a batter swinging for the third out of the fourth inning. All-Stars batters then went three up, three down in both the fifth and sixth innings.

Sarantos left the game with six strikeouts and walked just one batter of the 23 he faced.

“It kind of lit a little fire in me,” Sarantos said of the lone run he allowed. “Like nothing more after that. It was just kind of trust myself after that, not trying to do too much, trying to stay composed.”

The ‘Panners went from trailing by one run to leading by one run in the sixth stanza when Lucas Schermer cleared the bases with a two-RBI triple. Although that hit delivered the Goldpanners’ first run(s) of the day, Schermer said he didn’t feel any need to press to put his team on the scoreboard.

“I think we knew it was going to happen,” Schermer said of scoring runs. “Our team is better at hitting and we’ve seen much better pitching than that. It was just inevitable we were going to score a few. If I didn’t do it, somebody behind me would.”

Jack Clark picked up where Sarantos left off, keeping the All-Stars off the scoreboard in the seventh and eighth innings. He finished with five strikeouts to just two hits allowed in three innings.

Schermer added a second hit and a third RBI in the bottom of the eighth inning when he singled and Cole Clark narrowly beat a tag attempt for his second run of the night.

“I found my swing the last few days, and today I was just seeing the ball better, just saw my pitches and didn’t miss,” Schermer said.

The Goldpanners and All-Stars play again Sunday at 2 p.m for the fourth meeting of their six-game, six-day series.