The defending American Legion state champs suffered a bruising loss in one winner's bracket game and the reigning high school state champions pulled off a victory in the other Wednesday at the Legion state baseball tournament at Mulcahy Stadium.
Juneau rode Bryce Swofford's pitching to an 8-0 win over South, the tournament's defending champion. And Chugiak, the champion of the state high school tournament earlier this summer, took advantage of errors to beat the Valley team 7-3.
Juneau and Chugiak will meet at 6 p.m. Thursday with a spot in the Saturday's championship game at stake.
The other spot will be determined by loser's bracket action, meaning South and the Valley are still alive in the double-elimination tournament.
In loser's bracket games Wednesday, Dimond and Kenai survived at the expense of the two Fairbanks teams. Dimond beat Fairbanks Post 30, 17-10, and Kenai ousted Fairbanks Post 11, 4-2.
Chugiak broke open a close game with the Valley by scoring three runs in the fifth inning to grab a 6-2 lead. Valley pitcher Logan Sanders gave up two hits and three walks that inning, but what really hurt the team was errors. The Valley committed three errors that inning, and all three allowed a run to score.
Chugiak enjoyed good production from its No. 8 and No. 9 batters. Jack Straub was 2 for 3 with one run and one RBI and Alex Hess was 2 for 3 in support of starter Jimmy Lanier, who gave up five hits over 6 1/3 innings.
In its win over South, Juneau used a complete-game four-hitter from Swofford to stifle South. Swofford struck out seven and retired the last 13 batters he faced.
Juneau's Tod Baseden went 4 for 5, drove in two runs and scored two runs. Teammates Alex Muir and J.R. Markovich drove in three runs and two runs, respectively.
In the loser's bracket, Dimond's Lucas Thorp went 4 for 5 with three doubles, drove in four runs and scored three runs to help overpower Fairbanks Post 30. Teammates Joe Fitka and Tony Hillman each went 3 for 5 and scored three runs, and Hillman drove in a run. Dimond's Kyle Bremont and Jack Hoen each drove in three runs.
Kenai broke a 2-2 tie in its win over Fairbanks Post 11 by scoring a pair of runs in the bottom of the eighth inning.
Kenai's Kyle Johnson allowed one earned run in seven innings and Klayton Justice pitched two scoreless innings of relief for the win.
American Legion State Baseball Tournament
Mulcahy Stadium
Wednesday's results
Winner's bracket
Juneau 8, South 0
Chugiak 7, Valley 3
Elimination games
Kenai 4, Fairbanks #11 2
Dimond 17, Fairbanks #30 10
Thursday's games
Winner's bracket
6 p.m. -- Juneau vs. Chugiak
Loser's bracket
11 a.m. -- Kenai vs. Valley
2:30 p.m. -- Dimond vs. South
Alaska Dispatch Publishing