Panners Extend Streak
July 20, 2000, Daily News-Miner

By RICHARD LARSON

The Alaska Goldpanners didn't gain any ground on the second-place Mat-Su Miners on Wednesday, but thanks to Eric Doble they didn't lose any either.

Doble picked up his second save in as many nights as the Panners held off the Anchorage Bucs 7-6 at Growden Memorial Park.

Mat-Su (13-9) defeated the Anchorage Glacier Pilots 12-1 to keep a 1[1/2]-game lead on the Panners in the race for second place in the Alaska Baseball League. The Panners and Pilots are both 13-12. The top two teams in the ABL earn spots in the National Baseball Congress tournament.

The Panners nearly let a 7-1 lead and a sterling starting pitcher performance by Brian Felten get away. Doble entered with the potential tying run on second base in the eighth inning and threw 1[2/3] innings of scoreless relief to finish off the Panners fifth win in a row.

"Doble came out and had his A game," said Panners third baseman Greg Sain. "He was firing BBs.

"Definitely we didn't want to give up this game," Sain added. "We couldn't afford to."

With a runner on second and one out, Doble entered the game with a 1-1 count on the Bucs' Jay Garthwaite. Garthwaite worked the count full before Doble struck him out. Doble then got Chris O'Riordan on a deep fly to left fielder Jonah Martin to end the inning.

"I was just trying to keep the game close," Doble said. "I didn't want to let the guy from second score. It was a big key to get that second out."

Doble walked Nick Blankenship to start the ninth, but Blankenship was gunned down trying to steal. The setting sun was directly in the line of sight between the pitcher and the first baseman at the time allowing Blankenship to get a great jump, but Ken Tirpack threw a rocket to Brooks Conrad at second base for the out.

"The first baseman couldn't see at all, I think that is why (Blankenship) took off," Doble said. "But it was a great throw and a great tag. That was a big play. Leadoff walks usually score."

After the first four innings of play it didn't look like the Panners would be sweating out the game in the ninth inning.

Brian Felten struck out nine of the first 13 batters he faced, including a string of five straight strikeouts between the second and fourth innings. Felten set the side down in order three times, but was lifted after the fifth inning in which he gave up a solo home run to Blankenship.

"He's one of our aces," Doble said. "He is good. We had that one long inning (at the plate) and I think that kind of took a toll on him."

Ben Julianel and Chris Dunwell pitched in relief of Felten and struggled, allowing four runs in 2[1/3] innings before Doble came in and closed the door.

"You just hope the guys come out and do their job and throw strikes," Sain said. "They didn't get the job done, but it is always nice when you can have a couple of downers and still come back as a team to get the win."

While Felten was nearly untouchable the Panners batters were rocking Bucs' starter Cam McCoy for six runs in 3[1/3] innings of play. McCoy walked five and allowed four hits in his brief stint.

Brian Haskell relieved McCoy and allowed a sacrifice fly and a two-run triple to Greg Sain as the Panners pushed their lead to 7-1.

"We just had to keep adding on," Doble said. "We let up for awhile there."

After Sain's triple, Haskell allowed only three more Panners to reach base in the game. Haskell did his best Brian Felten immitation by striking out seven of the first 14 batters he faced, including four in a row at one point.

"I was lucky to get a pitch to hit," Sain said. "He made a mistake, but he didn't make many more. For the rest of the game he was throwing the ball well. He had real good command."

* PANNER NUGGETS: Ryan McCally, the losing pitcher for the Bucs in Tuesday's game, was ejected in the third inning on Wednesday after yelling at home plate umpire Tim Norman. After being ejected McCally inexplicably held two bats along each side of his head and hopped around like a bunny rabbit in the seats down the right field line. The game was held up until McCally left the stadium area. ... Sain came to the plate four times on Wednesday. He walked three times, including once with the bases loaded, and tripled in his other at-bat. ... Nate Sickler went 0-for-2 and saw his anemic .150 batting average sink even lower, but he actually had a succesful night at the plate with a sacrifice fly and a sac bunt. ... The Panners had the leadoff hitter reach base in six of the nine innings, including the first five. Five times the Panners drew leadoff walks and once they got a double from Chad Redfern.

July 20, 2000, Daily News-Miner