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2005 Team: PannerBlog • 2005 Roster: Ed Cheff • Elliott Strankman • Gus Knickrehm • Brett Andrade • Joe Ayers • Allan Dykstra • Matt Fitts • Justin Fuller • Brandon Godfrey • Max Hibbs • Garet Hill • Thomas Incaviglia • Matt Inouye • Jared Joaquin • Matt Kasser • Matt Lane • Mike Lissman • Josh McLaughlin • Kris Medlen • Spencer Pabst • Johnny Ray • Ed Romero • Quinn Stewart • Mark Thompson • Sean Timmons • Sung-Wei Tseng • Kody Valverde • Clay Van Hook • Matt Vogel • Austin Weilep • Sheng-Wei Wang • Shannon Wirth • Chris Zachgo | 2005 Team Baseball Card Set | All-Time Roster • All-Time Lineups

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Wire to Wire in Alaska League Romp

The 2005 Goldpanners season will go down as one of the most dominating ever. Even though the final winning percentage was very good (39 wins and12 losses for .765 winning percentage), the real measure of the season was in the absolute domination of the entire league. The Panners jumped up fast and led all the way in the most one-sided AK League race ever.

Breaking the league season down by team series , the result was very lop-sided. Against the Mat-Su Miner the win/loss result was 5-2; with AIA-Alaska it was 6-1; with the Anchorage Glacier Pilots 6-1; with the Kenai Peninsula Oilers 6-1; with the Bucs the result was 5-1 (with one rainout). Overall, 28 win and 6 loss league record -- a pretty overwhelming season for the Panners, who ran away with the Alaska Baseball League. During the season the team enjoyed nine and eight game winning streaks.

The 2005 ABL crown gave Field Manager Ed Cheff both his third league title and third “Coach of the Year” honors in his four years at the helm of the club.

After being shocked in the first round of the NBC World Series by supreme underdog Park City, Kansas, Cowboys, the club responded with four straight convincing wins before finally being shutout by longtime rival Clarinda, Iowa, Athletics.

Several players from the 2005 club went on to post remarkable numbers during their collegiate seasons, and all focused attention on coach Cheff as the reason for such dramatic upswings in productivity. “(Cheff) worked with us every day to be mentally tougher,” Kody Valverde said. “I don’t know if he did something special to us or whether we did it ourselves, but it was a fun summer. “It’s miraculous,” Alabama coach Jim Wells said. “He went from a guy who hit .238 or .240, who swung and missed a lot, and he’s just better all the way around.”

Wake Forest first baseman Allan Dykstra earned the 2006 ACC Rookie of the Year after leading the Demon Deacons in slugging percentage (.670), on-base percentage (.479), RBI (56), home runs (15), and walks (51). Right fielder Quinn Stewart , after a monumental season with LSU (hitting 23 round trippers this spring), signed with the Devil Rays prior to the draft." (2006 Yearbook)

PRESSBOX

• 2005 PannerBlog

• 6/13/5: Panners shoot down Running Birds - "Matt Fitts had a long day of travel, but he helped make Sunday a long night for the Southern California Running Birds. In his first appearance for the Alaska Goldpanners, the right-handed junior pitcher from Long Beach State hurled six scoreless innings to aid a 10-1 rout and a 2-0 start for his new team this Alaska Baseball League season. "I felt a little tired, but I was ready to go,'' said Fitts, who was on an airplane at 5 a.m. and arrived in Fairbanks at 3 p.m., four hours before the start of the Goldpanners' second non-league game against the Running Birds in as many nights at Growden Memorial Park. Alaska won 11-8 on Saturday night."

• 6/8/5: Panners fleshing out roster

Ed Cheff Field Manager

Elliot Strankman Assistant Coach

Gus Knickrehm Pitching Coach