Wichita, Kan. -- From the score alone, it looks like another easy night for Fairbanks.
But the Goldpanners trailed by four runs and led by only one after six innings before pulling away to beat Prairie Gravel (Ill.) 14-6 Monday night at the National Baseball Congress World Series at Lawrence-Dumont Stadium.
A five-run eighth inning was deceiving. If not for a career night from center fielder Tim Montgomery, making his first start in Wichita, Fairbanks might not have assured itself of at least a top-16 finish.
"It was good to have to battle back like that," Montgomery said. "We're down 4-0 but showed some resiliency."
The Panners (32-14) get a day off after their third win in three days. They will next play at 4:30 p.m. Wednesday, facing the winner of tonight's Wichita (Kan.) Braves-Cape Girardeau (Mo.) game.
Montgomery is a big reason why Fairbanks is in such an enviable position. He had five hits, two homers, five runs scored and four RBIs Monday night. He had only one pinch-hitting appearance in the first two games.
Prairie Gravel got to Goldpanners starter Marc Kaiser in the second inning. Bart Leahy and Matt Tribble led off with consecutive singles. Brian Taylor then hit a chopper Fairbanks first baseman Mike Hofius couldn't handle. The ball went right past him, scoring two. One batter later, Jason Imrisek hit a two-run homer to left field, and Gravel led 4-0.
It didn't take Fairbanks long to cut into that lead. Ryan Haag's single in the bottom of the second scored Scott Robinson and Montgomery, making it 4-2. The Goldpanners took the lead in the fourth, scoring runs on an error, a wild pitch and Brendan Ryan's single to claim a 5-4 advantage.
That didn't last long, either. Two walks from Kaiser and another error by Hofius -- one of five Fairbanks errors in the game -- loaded the bases with no outs in the top of the fifth. Zack Basch replaced Kaiser and got Bart Leahy to ground into a run-scoring double play. Tribble then singled home another run, and Gravel led 6-5. But Basch would close the door from there. He would retire 10 of the last 13 batters he faced in getting the victory.
That gave Montgomery a chance to really shine. In the bottom of the fifth, he homered off the batter's eye in straightaway center field, a two-run shot of more than 400 feet.
"I was just running," Montgomery said. "It was a fastball, and I knew I hit it pretty well, so I wasn't surprised it went out. But I wasn't sure if it would have that kind of distance."
Everything was going Montgomery's way Monday night. In his next at-bat, he took a hanging curve ball deep to left field, a solo homer. No player had two home runs in last year's NBC. Montgomery did it in consecutive at-bats.
In his other three at-bats, Montgomery had to settle for mere singles.
"I don't know," he said, smiling, "I guess it was just one of those nights."
A Hofius single and a Haag double added another run in the seventh. In the eighth, three walks, RBI singles from Montgomery and Haag and a two-run double from Tyler Best added up to a five-run inning that put the game away. Haag was 3 for 5 with four RBIs. Best was 2 for 5 with two RBIs.
