Post 25 showed they could win in any way they needed on Saturday, nicking Chugiak\u2019s Post 33 for two wins and putting Juneau\u2019s American Legion baseball team at 3-1 in league play on the season. Juneau swept Chugiak in a doubleheader on Saturday at the Adair-Kennedy Memorial Park, earning their 6-4 and 11-1 wins with clutch defense and smart baserunning in the first game, and an onslaught of offense in the second.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Juneau 6, Chugiak 4<\/strong><\/p>\n Juneau dominated the first five innings of the first game, earning a 5-1 lead before Chugiak responded. Starting pitcher Bryce Swofford controlled the game through eight innings pitched with an astonishing 13 strikeouts.<\/p>\n Kasey Watts, who had a great day behind the plate, always feels good when Swofford is on the mound.<\/p>\n \u201cBryce is the guy you always feel comfortable with when he\u2019s on the mound,\u201d Watts said. \u201cIt\u2019s not like, \u2018Oh, is he gonna do good or not?\u2019 He\u2019s always hitting his strike and contributing to our wins.\u201d<\/p>\n Though Swofford put the hurt on Chugiak\u2019s offense throughout the game, Post 33 took a bite out of him in the sixth, forcing Juneau to pull out all the stops in the final inning to put Chugiak away.<\/p>\n Zeb Storie and Finn Collins \u2014 teammates from Thunder Mountain High School \u2014 both made highlight-reel plays in the final inning. Storie stopped a hard grounder to left field and narrowly beat his runner to first with a laser throw from the shortstop position for the first out.<\/p>\n Collins tracked down a deep shot and made a diving catch in center field to put the second out on the board.<\/p>\n \u201cI just saw it hit well off the bat, hustled and gave it my all. I just knew if I got there I could catch it so I just laid out and made the play,\u201d Collins said, adding that the defense is \u201cgetting stronger\u201d.<\/p>\n Phillip Wall, who\u2019s developing a reputation as Post 25\u2019s sandman, took the mound for Swofford in the ninth and iced the game by striking out Chugiak\u2019s Kade Lekites to give Juneau the 6-4 win.<\/p>\n Scoring for Post 25 kicked off in the first when Alex Muir hit a two-RBI, hard ground ball single to left field. Michael Cesar then advanced home from second off an error, giving Juneau the 3-0 lead after one inning.<\/p>\n Watts added a score in the third off a wild pitch and hit an RBI single in the fourth to put Juneau up 5-1. Chugiak dug deep in the sixth to claw back a 5-4 scoreline, with Charlie Bucolo hitting a warning track shot to left field and Cody Curfman closing the gap to one run with an RBI line drive double to center field.<\/p>\n Juneau earned their two-run cushion and closed out scoring in the seventh with an RBI double from Storie. Swofford threw 124 pitches for 80 strikes, scattering only four hits.<\/p>\n Watts led from the plate for Juneau, going 2-3 with an RBI while Muir added two RBIs off a 1-4 performance.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Juneau 11, Chugiak 1<\/strong><\/p>\n Juneau won with their offense in the second game, blasting homers and doubles on their way to an 11-1 lead by the fifth inning. The seven inning game was called in the fifth via the 10-run mercy rule.<\/p>\n Storie went 3-3 at the plate in the game, Stefan Beedle 2-2, Wall 2-3 and Watts 2-4 while Swofford joined the party behind the plate with a homer in the fourth inning.<\/p>\n \u201cIt felt good … We did good not letting them get in our heads,\u201d Watts said. \u201cI think after that first pitcher got out, they said \u2018We\u2019re done, we have no pitching left,\u2019 and we just showed them what we had.\u201d<\/p>\n A three-run first inning opened scoring for Juneau with RBIs coming from Collins and Beedle. Donovan McCurley added their third off a home plate steal, his second of the day.<\/p>\n \u201cI just saw it. The pitcher wasn\u2019t paying attention, he had a slow windup and was not paying attention, so I had take it.\u201d McCurley said. \u201cI feel really good about our team, we played hard.\u201d<\/p>\n Collins, Swofford, Jake Tanner, Quinn Gist, Beedle and Wall all had RBIs in the game. Chugiak homered for their lone score in the fifth but couldn\u2019t overcome the 10-run gap to keep the game going.<\/p>\n Wall picked up where he left off in the first game, using his changeup and fastball effectively in his five innings pitched. Wall threw 59 pitches for 38 strikes, five strikeouts, one earned run and one hit in the win.<\/p>\n Post 25\u2019s last league home games of the season are July 16 against West, a doubleheader at 12 p.m. and 3 p.m. They have non-league games at 6:30 p.m. July 15 and 12 p.m. July 17.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"