Panners cycle into first place
July 22, 2002, Daily News-Miner

By ERIC GOOLD
Staff Writer

It was Turn Back the Clock Night at Growden Memorial Park Sunday night and the Alaska Goldpanners of Fairbanks made the game a memorable one as they came from behind to beat the Kenai Peninsula Oilers 6-3 when right fielder Tim Montgomery hit for the cycle.

"This is the first time I've ever hit for the cycle," said Montgomery. "Usually stuff like that only happens for me in wiffle ball games. But to do it for the first time as a Panner feels great, it's exciting."

Montgomery tripled in the second inning, doubled in the fourth, singled in the sixth and then completed the cycle with his three-run homer in the eighth that broke a 3-3 tie. Montgomery was a one-man wrecking crew from the dish as the right-handed hitter went 4-for-4 with five runs batted in.

The win raises the Panners' consecutive win streak at Growden to 10 and, more importantly, moves them into first place in the Alaska Baseball League. They stand at 20-11 in the ABL, 25-14 overall.

"We love the friendly confines of Growden," said Montgomery. "We're definitely confident when we play at home."

The Anchorage Glacier Pilots are a half-game out of first after their 9-1 loss to the hard-charging Anchorage Bucs, who are two games out from the top spot.

Sunday night's contest featured several outstanding plays along with the drama Montgomery provided. Panners starter Clay Johnson overcame a rocky start to pitch six solid innings, scattering four Oiler hits and allowing one run. He struck out three and walked four.

Kevin Welch hurled 123 innings of relief, allowing two runs off of two Kenai hits. He walked two and struck out none. Scott Robertson came on to throw the final five outs for the Panners and picked up two strikeouts in the relief win.

The game see-sawed back and forth throughout the night as both teams engineered runs. Montgomery's triple gave the Panners a 1-0 advantage, then Blake Jones hit an RBI single to tie the game for Kenai in the sixth.

In the bottom half of the same inning, Montgomery's RBI single put the Panners back up 2-1, but an RBI sacrifice fly from Mike Cox again evened the contest for Kenai in the top of the seventh. Chris Graziano put Kenai up 3-2 with his RBI double in the top of the eighth.

A four-run explosion in the bottom of the eighth would seal the win for the Panners. Marc Kaiser was hit by a pitch, then came around to score on Scott Robinson's well-struck triple down the right field line.

Tim Gorski relieved Kenai starter Roger Lincoln, who pitched a gutsy 713 innings, giving up nine hits, three runs, three walks and striking out three Panners. Lincoln earned no decision.

With Robinson on third, Gorski walked Mike Hofius and up stepped Montgomery.

Fans around Growden held their breath and waited to see if he could get the homer necessary for the cycle. Montgomery crushed a Gorski pitch down the left field line that was just foul. Some of the energy left the park as fans thought his best chance for the cycle had just drifted wide.

But then two pitches later, Montgomery delivered a liner again down the left field line. The ball was extremely close to the foul pole, and it was difficult to see if the ball had stayed fair. But then the third base umpire signaled homer and Montgomery trotted around the bases to jubilant applause from the Growden faithful.

After Montgomery stepped across the plate, Kenai managers and players debated the call with the umpires, but not for long and no one was ejected. Oilers left fielder Adrian Schau was closer to the ball than anyone else.

"It looked like it was about two feet foul," said Schau. "He hit it hard, he definitely got good wood on it. We just come up here and play hard; sometimes you get the calls and sometimes you don't."

The same two teams wrap up their series at 7 tonight in the Panners' last home game of the year.

July 22, 2002, Daily News-Miner