Darkness nearly snuffed the Athletes in Action Fire's Alaska Baseball League title prospects late Tuesday, but it helped them in the end as a 16 1/2-inning marathon against the Peninsula Oilers ended in a suspended game with the score 7-4.
What it meant to the ABL title chase was unclear late Tuesday night. Mat-Su Miners general manager Pete Christopher was on the phone with other league officials in Kenai near midnight to discuss whether the game should be ruled a suspension or an AIA victory.
Umpires discussed calling the game in the 16th and 17th innings because Seymour Park has no artificial lights. Players could hardly see the ball.
But the Fire didn't want the game suspended because they sat one game behind the Miners, who beat the Anchorage Glacier Pilots 2-0 on Tuesday. A loss or a suspended game would give the Miners the ABL title.
After playing 3 hours and 52 minutes, the umpires stopped the game at 10:52 p.m. -- 10 minutes after sunset.
The problem now is the Oilers are scheduled to board a plane today headed for Wichita, Kan., where they'll play in the National Baseball Congress World Series.
The Fire end their season tonight in Anchorage against the Glacier Pilots.
So no makeup game is possible.
Darkness late Tuesday led to errors in the Oilers infield. The Fire scored the go-ahead run in the top half of the 16th on a routine fly ball to third baseman Juan Martinez, which popped off his glove when he collided with his second baseman.
The Fire scored two more insurance runs and Payton Tweddale finished the game after pitching nine innings of relief.
The Oilers went through 10 pitchers and all position players. The team was so short of arms, shortstop Adam Younger tossed scoreless innings in the 15th and 16th.
Then Toby Davis entered from third base in the 17th to become the 12th Oilers pitcher.
But the Oilers, who could have swept the home series with a win, kept the game alive with its solid defensive effort in the outfield.
In the top half of the 16th, Michael Dabbs gunned an AIA player out a home.
Then Robert Lundy saved two potential go-ahead runs with spectacular diving catches in left field in the 12th and 13th innings.
Each of his horizontal grabs turned into double plays.
Meanwhile, Miners fans and players were going nuts at Hermon Brothers Field in the Valley.
They groaned at every Oilers ground out and pumped their fists for every AIA strikeout.
For one long, long evening of baseball, the Miners players became huge fans of the Oilers.
A record crowd of 1,171 fans packed Hermon Brothers to see the Miners beat the Glacier Pilots.
But the Miners -- and several hundred of those fans -- had to stay late to listen to the Oilers-AIA game in Kenai over the Hermon Brothers loudspeakers to find out the result.
The Miners-Pilots game was scoreless until Carl Uhl's RBI double in the eighth scored one run, and Ryan Conan sacrifice fly sparked big cheers from the crowd.
After the game, Miners players pulled out folding chairs and sat behind home plate to listen to the game. Several hundred fans stuck around to listen from the bleachers.
But the crowd thinned as the game stretched into the 14th, 15th, 16th then 17th innings. By the time the 16th inning rolled around at 10:15 p.m., only a group of Miners players remained huddled together in the bleachers with a few dozen fans.
Even Miners head coach Jeff Pritchard couldn't stay. He landed a new job as assistant coach at San Jose State and had to report for an interview today. He had to leave for the airport in Anchorage at 9:15.
"It's amazing how many guys have stayed," said Ryan Conan, an infielder from Santa Clara University. "Everyone is listening, it's pretty cool, being that our season is over and there's nothing we can do about it. It shows how close our team has become. Everyone is really into it."
Panners 6, Bucs 4
Jonathan Kountis pitched seven strong innings Tuesday night, helping the Fairbanks Goldpanners beat the Anchorage Bucs at Growden Memorial Park in Fairbanks.
Kountis struck out four batters, scattered six hits and gave up four runs.
Clay Calfee homered to left for the Bucs, who finish their season tonight in Fairbanks.
