Goldpanners Win Midnight Sun Game
June 20, 1995, Daily News-Miner

By RICHARD LARSON

The light banks stood looming, but unused.

For the 90th year, Fairbanks' summer solstice baseball game was played during the midnight hour without the convenience of electric light.

But the Alaska Goldpanners didn't need full wattage.  In front of a sellout crowd at Growden Memorial Field, the Panners (8-3) extended their home unbeaten streak to five fames, trouncing the San Francisco  Seals 10-2 in a contest which started Wednesday night and ended Thursday morning.

"We've been up this late, but we're just not used to playing this late,"  Goldpanner coach Stacey Parker said, noting that the fans gave the Panners a boost.  "With the crowd and everything that's going on, you stay awake.  It gets you pumped up."

Alaska's Chris Bloomer nabbed the win in 7 -1/3 innings, allowing eight hits, striking out six and walking none.  The Panners, buoyed by a four-run third inning and a three-run fifth, connected on 12 hits and capitalized on five errors.

Center fielder Jeff Cermak went 3-for-4 with a walk, three RBIs and three runs scored.  Matt Curtis, Jack Jones and Steve Hagins chipped in two hits apiece.

"I'm pleased with the way we're playing," Parker said.  "We swung the bats well; Bloomer pitched another great ballgame."

"It was probably the largest crowd I've ever played in front of," said Bloomer (3-0), who used a four-hour pregame nap to prepare for the 10:30 start.  "I was a little more nervous than I was the previous game, but it was just fun."

The Panners started having fun early, scoring their first batter of the game.  Designated hitter Adam Kennedy  led off with a single, stole second, and came home on a single by Jacob Freeman.

Four more runs were piled on in the third on one hit, three walks and two errors.  With the bases packed, losing pitcher Mario Iglesias walked in a run, Matt Curtis smacked a two-run single into center, where Mike Huddleson juggled the ball and allowed another run to come home.

In the top of the fourth, Huddleston avenged his error with a single, advanced on another hit and scored on a drive by Ed Conlon, who was later nailed stealing second by Panner catcher Curtis.

Curtis gunned down another runner in the fifth.

The Goldpanners increased their lead to 8-1 in the fifth.  Hagins led off with a stand-up triple to right field, C.J. Ankrum followed with an RBI double and Cermak scored Ankrum on a single, stole second and moved to third on an error before Jones drove him home.  Alaska picked up two more runs-one each in the sixth and eight.

The Seals pulled off their other run in the seventh after two runners advanced on a balk.  Alaska's newly assembled - through solid - infield, comprised of Ankrum at first, Chip Lawrence at second, Jones at short and Freeman at third, turned a clean 6-4-5 double play to end the inning, but a run slipped across the plate before the third out was recorded.

After the first out in the eighth, reliever Brian Scott took over mound duties and registered five straight outs.

The late innings went in favor of pitching, as the partly cloudy sky and dipping sun muted the ball more than it did the strike zone.

"Luckily, the game was kind of in hand so we didn't have to worry about trying to score some runs,"  Parker said.  "I felt sorry for the guys I put in there."

"You couldn't pick up the spin of the ball - you could just see direction," said Jones.

June 20, 1995, Daily News-Miner