The Anchorage Glacier Pilots maintained a share of the league lead and put themselves in position to claim their seventh straight Mayor's Cup by claiming a 4-2 win Tuesday over the Anchorage Bucs at Mulcahy Stadium.
The Cup will be decided tonight when the Pilots and Bucs meet in Game 3 of the best-of-3 series at Mulcahy Stadium. The Bucs took the first game, 5-4, on Monday.
The Pilots broke open a scoreless game with Tyler Spoon's two-run single in the fourth inning. Axel Johnson's RBI single in the fifth gave the Pilots a 3-0 lead.
The Bucs made it 3-2 in the sixth, but the Pilots sealed the game in the eighth when Jordan Luplow scored on a wild pitch.
Pilots pitcher Sam Johns picked up his second win, striking out three over six innings. He struck out the final batter he faced in the top of the sixth, after surrendering two runs to the Bucs.
The win kept the Pilots at the top of the Alaska Baseball League standings with the Peninsula Oilers, who scored eight runs in the final three innings to beat the Chugiak Chinooks 9-6 at Chugiak's Loretta French Field. The Pilots are 13-8 in league play; the Oilers are 14-9.
Chugiak starter Mike Jeffreys left with a 5-1 lead in the seventh inning, but the Oilers took the lead in the eighth. A double play in the bottom of eighth erased Chugiak's hope for a comeback.
In Fairbanks, a game between the teams at the bottom of the standings ended with the fifth-place Fairbanks Goldpanners beating the Mat-Su Miners 6-2. Blake Miller, Chris Lee and Kevin Casey all homered for the Goldpanners (10-10).
Sunday's results
Bucs 4, Goldpanners 2 (7 innings)
Goldpanners 6, Bucs 4 (7 innings)
Oilers 6, Chinooks 3
Monday's results
Miners 7, Chinooks 2
Bucs 5, Pilots 4 (Mayor's Cup)
Tuesday results
Oilers 9, Chinooks 6
Pilots 4, Bucs 2
Goldpanners 6, Miners 2
Wednesday's games
Miners at Goldpanners (doubleheader), 5 p.m.
Oilers at Chinooks, 6 p.m.
Pilots at Bucs, 7 p.m.
Anchorage Daily News