When Braden Price isn't hitting screaming line drives or scorching the base paths, he's leading the Kenai Twins baseball team with chatter from the dugout.
"If I get up and get everyone going, it helps," said Price. "Sometimes it's to get in the pitcher's head."
But as Price showed Friday, his devastating play can be enough to get in most pitcher's heads.
The lefty went 3 for 3, stole five bases, scored four runs and drove in two, sparking the Twins to a 14-4, five-inning win over Eagle River in the opening round of the American Legion baseball tournament at Mulcahy Stadium.
"I think he's the best leadoff hitter in the state," said Kenai Post 20 first baseman Mitchell Thompson, who went 3 for 3 with three RBIs from the third spot in the lineup. "He makes it easy to get RBIs."
Price said he likes to run early in the pitch count to get into scoring position for batters coming up behind him.
"As soon as I move my front foot, he's gone," said Eagle River pitcher Augie Ortiz, who said he picked off Price once in a game earlier this season.
Ortiz wasn't so lucky Friday, getting in trouble right away. He started by walking Price, who stole second, took third on a wild pitch and scored on a double by second baseman Jake Darrow. Ortiz faced all nine batters in the Kenai lineup and gave up five runs before the first inning ended.
"I didn't feel any different than any other day," said Ortiz, who said Kenai just kept finding holes and getting hits.
Leading 6-1 after two innings, Kenai pitcher D.J. Stilechen lost his control in the top of the third. He hit two batters, walked three and surrendered three runs to help Eagle River make it 6-4.
Tay Harding replaced Stilechen the next inning, but after getting the first batter on a pop-up, he loaded the bases with consecutive walks and an infield single before escaping with two fly balls.
"It was nerve-racking," Thompson said.
Harding settled down in the fifth, and his teammates put up seven runs in the bottom of the inning to go ahead by 10 and end the game by mercy rule.
Price contributed a two-run double, his fifth stolen base and his fourth run to the final rally. Thompson pitched in by driving in a run with a single and then stealing second and third before scoring.
The win sends Kenai (12-9) into a winner's bracket game today against South. Eagle River (1-20, with its only win coming against Kenai) faces elimination in an 11 a.m. game.
West 3, East 2
The tournament opened with a thriller. Dylan Wisthoff's walk-off double to left field scored Eric Moncion from first base, carrying West to a dramatic 3-2 win over East.
The hit made Wisthoff the game's winning pitcher, a victory he earned by facing three batters in the top of the ninth. He took the mound after Moncion gave up a leadoff single and got three quick outs on a pair of groundouts and an infield fly to strand the potential tying run at third base.
East missed a chance to take the lead in the eighth inning. Trailing 2-1, the T-Birds loaded the bases with one out but came away with one run. West turned a grounder into a force-out at the plate for the second out and, after East tied the score on a bases-loaded passed ball, escaped further damage when East's Patrick McFarland grounded out to the pitcher.
Service 11, Bartlett 1
Zacharry Ferntheil scattered six hits and didn't walk a batter in a six-inning, complete-game performance that lifted Service past Bartlett in Friday's final first-round game at Mulcahy. Ferntheil threw five shutout innings before giving up a run in the sixth.
Service put together a pair of five-run innings, including a five-hit third that saw the Cougars send 10 batters to the plate. Highlighting the inning was Aaron Miller's bases-loaded steal of home plate and Trace Woodruff's two-run single.
Woodruff and Kevin Nealley each drove in two runs for Service, which pounded out 12 hits, three of them for extra bases.
Bartlett (2-19) plays an elimination game at 2:15 p.m. today. Service (12-9) meets Dimond in a winner's bracket game.
By JEREMY PETERS
jpeters@adn.com