Panners Top Oilers in Tourney Finale
August 1, 2000, Daily News-Miner

STAFF REPORT

The Alaska Goldpanners of Fairbanks closed out the Alaska portion of their summer baseball schedule in rather dramatic fashion early Monday morning in Anchorage.

Trailing the Alaska Baseball League champion Peninsula Oilers of Kenai 1-0 with two outs and nobody on in the bottom of the seventh, the Goldpanners put together four straight singles to pull out a 2-1 victory.

The Panners finished the Anchorage Bucs Wooden Bat Tournament with a 3-2 record. Peninsula finished the round-robin event with a 2-3 mark.

Both teams are now headed for Wichita, Kan., where they will represent the ABL in the National Baseball Congress World Series.

The Panners are scheduled to open play in Wichita on Thursday against an opponent to be named. The NBC does not announce matchups for particular games until both teams have arrived in Wichita. The Panners are scheduled to arrive on Wednesday morning.

Led by the hustle of assistant coach Jack Wickersham, the Goldpanners ground out the win in a game that didn't end until 12:30 a.m. Monday.

Wickersham, filling in because of injuries to several Panner regulars, raced home from second base on Arik VanZandt's infield single to score the winning run in exciting fashion.

Alaska won thanks to four consecutive two-out singles, including Jonah Martin's tying base hit, off hard-throwing Oilers reliever David Humen.

VanZandt hit an extremely high chopper to Oilers shortstop Hunter Brown, while a hustling Wickersham raced around third. Wickersham was nearly home by the time the ball was fielded cleanly by Brown, who fired home.

Wickersham side-stepped Oilers catcher Jim Anderson and twisted away from the tag before barely sliding his hand across home plate.

August 30, 2000, Daily News-Miner

PV FREE: Winning Run vs. Peninsula Oilers 220K RealMedia - Coach Jack Wickersham dodges the tag at home to give the Goldpanners a 2-1 victory over the Peninsula Oilers of Kenai during the 2000 Anchorage Bucs Wood Bat Invitational Tournament. (Brooks Conrad celebrating at end) - Down 1-0 with 2 out in the bottom of 7th (final inning), the Panners pull off a miracle comeback, winning 2-1 on this play.  Arik Van Zandt batted the ball off of David Humen, who came in on relief with 2 out in the inning and nobody on base.  Jack Wickersham scores on a brilliant move.