Red Hot Goldpanners Win
July 21, 2000, Daily News-Miner

By RICHARD LARSON

And down the stretch they come.

The Alaska Goldpanners, Anchorage Glacier Pilots and Mat-Su Miners are running neck and neck as the Alaska Baseball League season heads to the wire, and the Panners are moving up quickly.

The Panners won their sixth straight game on Thursday, handing the Anchorage Bucs a 5-2 loss. Coupled with the Glacier Pilots' 8-5 win over the Miners, the victory moved the Panners within a half-game of second place in the race for the ABL's second bid to the National Baseball Congress tournament in Wichita, Kan.

"We're on a roll right now," said Panners pitcher Andy Davidson, who struck out 12 in eight innings to earn Thursday's win. "We have to come back and we have to win again tomorrow, but we know we can do this."

The Panners and Pilots are both 14-12 in league play, while the Miners are 13-10. The Miners will have to drop at least two of their final six games for the Panners to have a chance at second place. The Kenai Peninsula Oilers lead the league with a 17-7 record.

"We're making a good run. If we keep winning, I think we will take it," said the Panners' Barry Matthews, who was 3-for-4 with two doubles and three RBIs. "Mat-Su has to go play in Kenai, and in my opinion they are the hardest team to play. Hopefully Kenai will help us a little bit."

The Panners finish the ABL season with three games against the Glacier Pilots this weekend. The Miners play the Bucs twice and then play four games at Kenai.

After claiming a pair of one-run wins in the first two games of the series, the Panners finished off a home sweep of the Bucs on Thursday behind Davidson's pitching and some clutch hitting.

The fifth inning proved to be decisive. In the top of the inning with the score tied at 1-1, Davidson worked out of a no-out, runners on first and third jam. Davidson struck out Neal Stephenson for the first out then walked Jeff Walker to load the bases. Kris Zacuto then struck out before Matt Abram drilled a hit toward the middle of the infield that Davidson missed, but shortstop Arik Van Zandt was able to get to the ball. Van Zandt gunned down Abram by a half-step at first to end the inning.

"That could have been huge. They get a double there, they score two, three runs," Davidson said. "I'm pretty confident with the stuff I've got. I don't mind being in that situation."

Matthews added, "Andy pitched great tonight. That is the best I've seen him all year. I think the whole season our starting pitching has been outstanding and now are bats are heating up."

The Panners' bats got hot in the bottom of the fifth.  Jeff Phelps singled and Jonah Martin drove him home with a two-out triple that went over the center fielder's head. Flying around the bases, Martin looked like he was going to try for an inside-the-park home run, but ended up diving back to third after a wide turn. Martin then scored the game-winning run when Van Zandt singled.

Matthews accounted for the rest of the Panners' runs. Matthews singled home Ryan Garko in the fourth, doubled home Garko in the sixth and doubled home Brooks Conrad in the eighth.

"That's probably the most important thing (in our win streak)," Matthews said. "We are getting the clutch hits when we need them. How many people you leave on base and who gets the key hits is what decides a lot of games."

PANNERS NUGGETS: Before the season Panners general manager Don Dennis said the team would not necessarily go to Wichita if they finished second in the ABL. He said he depended on how the team was playing at the end of the season. Before Thursday's game Dennis confirmed that if the Panners do finish second, they will go to Wichita. ... The Bucs have lost eight games in a row. ... Bucs starter Colin Perschon entered the game with a 13.00 ERA, having walked 15 batters in nine innings. He had a solid start on Thursday, however, walking only one and allowing three runs in 4[2/3] innings.

July 21, 2000, Daily News-Miner