Sports

Goldpanners rack up 19 runs against Pilots in single inning

Alaska's two oldest baseball teams played an inning for the ages Saturday night at Growden Memorial Park in Fairbanks -- an inning that was a dream for the Goldpanners and a nightmare for the Anchorage Glacier Pilots and scorekeepers.

The Goldpanners, who have been around since Red Boucher formed the team in 1960, scored 19 runs in the second inning of a 26-7 Alaska Baseball League win over the Pilots.

Fairbanks sent 23 men to the plate and banged out 14 hits in the inning. Outfielder Kris Paulino of Cal-Irvine stroked two grand slams, doing something Dave Winfield, Jason Giambi and other greats never managed for the Goldpanners.

Fairbanks racked up 10 runs and three homers and chased two Pilot pitchers before making an out. Right after the first out was recorded, the Goldpanners roared back with another home run.

By the time the inning ended -- more than a half-hour after it started -- Fairbanks had batted around three times and hit five home runs against four Anchorage pitchers.

The upside for the Pilots: They played an error-free inning. The downside for the Pilots pitchers: All of those runs were earned.

The inning shattered a number of records for the Glacier Pilots, who came onto the scene in 1969. None of them are the kind of records you want to break, and one of them was more than 40 years old. Among them:

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• Most runs allowed in an inning -- 19 (old record was 12, set in 1985 against Fairbanks).

• Most hits allowed in an inning -- 14 (old record was nine, set in 1998 against the Seattle Cruisers).

• Most batters faced in an inning -- 23 (old record was 17, set in 1985 against Fairbanks).

• Biggest losing margin -- 19 runs (old record was 17, set in 1981 against the Peninsula Oilers).

• Most runs allowed in a single game -- 26 (old record was 23, set in 1972 against Ponchatoula, Louisiana).

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