Anchorage Daily News

Wichita, Kan. -- Anchorage Glacier Pilots second baseman Bryan Zech considers his team and the Fairbanks Goldpanners to be rivals, but there's no ill will.

"We're all friends," he said. "We've been getting together with them all summer. We're buddies."

That doesn't mean there will be hugs before the teams play in the National Baseball Congress World Series today. And it doesn't mean the Pilots would feel bad if they happened to be the team to send the Goldpanners packing.

"Well," Zech said, "we'd talk a little garbage, I'm sure."

The Alaska Baseball League co-champions will battle at Lawrence-Dumont Stadium today. The Pilots confirmed that meeting with a victory Thursday, when they cruised past the tournament's only other unbeaten team, the Wichita (Kan.) Braves, with a 10-4 win.

Now the Pilots will get Fairbanks -- both organizations have won this championship five times, the Pilots last title coming last year and Panners' last title coming in 1980. The teams played nine times this season, with the Panners winning five.

If Anchorage (5-0 at NBC) wins today's 4:30 p.m. game, it will advance to Sunday's championship, and its opponent then would have to win two straight to deny the Pilots a second straight title.

If the top-seeded Panners (3-1) win today, both Alaska teams will advance to Saturday's single-elimination semifinals, where all four teams would have one loss.

Those were the scenarios Anchorage coach Bob Miller discussed with his team on the field after the game.

Staying undefeated until Sunday meant a lot more to Miller than playing Fairbanks. He didn't even know that was the case until an assistant informed him of the matchup after Thursday's game.

"There's no revenge here or league tiebreaker," Miller said. "This is an NBC game. What happened in Alaska doesn't matter anymore. I want someone to have to beat us twice Sunday."

If Anchorage plays like it did Thursday, that will be tough. The Pilots took control quickly against the tournament's Cinderella team. Dennis Bigley hit a two-run homer off Braves starter Matt Ehmke in the second inning, and Anchorage never looked back.

"I've been seeing the ball well all tournament," Bigley said. "I was looking for a fastball, and I got it."

It was not the only Wichita pitch thrown into the wheelhouse of a Pilot. Drew Anderson tripled down the first-base line in the third inning to score Zech. Anderson scored on Tommy Caple's groundout for a 4-0 lead.

In the fourth, Zech flashed power. He wrapped a two-run homer around the left-field foul pole to cap a three-run inning.

"I just put it in the right place," Zech said, smiling. "I never thought it would go out, but the wind up there helped me."

Haas Pratt added another homer to left field in the fifth. Anchorage played small ball in the sixth, when Jose Ortega's key hit-and-run single led to a two-run inning and 10-1 lead.

That was enough for a pair of Wichita State pitchers. Reuben Kerbs got the start for the Pilots and was solid until the sixth inning. That's when he walked the leadoff batter, Grier Jones and gave up a double to Brett Williams. A walk to Terry Elliot, a 38-year-old hitting .118 in the tournament, loaded the bases.

Kerbs got Brian Scafe to hit into a fielder's choice, scoring one. Ortega, the sure-handed shortstop, then dropped a routine pop up to load the bases again.

Kerbs almost got out of the inning when Bryce Woods grounded a potential double-play ball to Ortega, but Woods was ruled safe when Pratt pulled his foot off first base. Two runs scored on the play, and Kerbs tweaked a groin muscle backing up home plate.

After he walked Terry Blunt, Kerbs was lifted for fellow Shocker Mike Dennison.

The Braves never threatened again. Dennison retired the last 10 Braves batters, five by strikeout.

"Mike was just really sharp," Miller said. "His fastball was outstanding, and his slider was plus. He was outstanding."

Now the Pilots are looking forward to a "feature game" matchup with Fairbanks, something many NBC fans have been anticipating since early in the tournament.

"We know each other really well," Bigley said. "This should be fun."

Tournament notes

The Pilots entered Thursday's games leading the tournament in team earned-run average at 1.59. No other team was below 2.13. During its schedule in Alaska, the Pilots' team ERA was 1.99. Anchorage was third in team batting at .326, trailing only Fairbanks at .388 and Beatrice (Neb.) at .337. . . . Anchorage pitcher David Purcey, a 6-foot-5 left-hander who made the All-Alaska Team, was named the tournament's best professional prospect Thursday. In his only appearance so far, Purcey allowed two earned runs in four innings, striking out five. He'll get the start today against the Goldpanners. He was 1-1 with a 1.29 ERA against Fairbanks this season, striking out 20 in 14 innings.

Longtime Pilots coach Jack O'Toole, who died in the off-season, was inducted into the NBC Hall of Fame on Wednesday.

Alaska teams have won 15 of 33 NBC titles since 1969. The Pilots have won five times -- 1969, 1971, 1986, 1991 and 2001. The Panners also have won five times -- 1972-73-74, 1976 and 1980. The Peninsula Oilers won in 1977 and won back-to-back titles in 1993 and 1994. And the Mat-Su Miners won championships in 1987 and 1997.

Since 1963, Alaska players have won the Most Valuable Player award 15 times, including last year when left-hander Jeff Francis, who the Pilots picked up from the Anchorage Bucs for the tournament, won the award. The MVP of the first NBC tournament in 1935 was legendary right-hander Satchel Paige.