Anchorage Daily News

Wichita, Kan. -- With the clock reading 1:15 a.m., the Anchorage Glacier Pilots were ready to play.

Given the choice, they probably would have asked to start the NBC World Series championship game right then instead of waiting another 18 hours. There was a bounce in their steps, a look in their eyes. In all honesty, it had more to do with the title matchup -- a game against rival Fairbanks -- as it did with beating San Luis Obispo (Calif.) 3-2 in Saturday's late semifinal at Lawrence-Dumont Stadium.

It's like a fairy tale to the Pilots. This afternoon, they will take the field against the Goldpanners, who shared the Alaska Baseball League title with them. One game will not only decide this year's national champion, but since the organizations are tied with a record five NBC titles each, it will decide who is the most successful team in NBC history.

The teams have played each other 10 times this season alone, including Friday when the Goldpanners beat the Pilots 7-6. But none of those will be like the game today.

"Oh man," Pilots second baseman Bryan Zech said, "I can't explain how huge it's going to be."

The Pilots got there on the back of starting pitcher Sean Warlop, who was masterful Saturday night. He took a no-hitter into the eighth inning. It was the second time that's happened for a Pilots pitcher, and the other one -- Dennis Bigley -- will start the title game.

"My curveball was just really working tonight," Warlop said. "I relied on it."

Warlop did not look great in his first tournament start a week ago, giving up three runs and seven hits in four innings. On Saturday, he faced only 20 Blues batters through the first six innings.

"The difference was he was keeping the ball down," Anchorage coach Bob Miller said.

The Pilots needed Warlop's big-time performance. They had a difficult time with San Luis Obispo starter Alex Chavez, who was pitching on two days rest and already had two complete games in the tournament.

Anchorage put runners at second and third with one out in the first inning, but Chavez struck out Haas Pratt and Bigley. That set the tone. He struck out nine in the first seven innings.

"What he did on two days rest was very impressive," Miller said. "You could tell he was just giving it everything he had."

But Zech helped the Pilots scratch out some runs. He singled and scored on Tommy Caple's single in the third inning, the lone run of the first seven innings.

Zech was late getting into the batter's box to lead off the eighth inning. The NBC has a 90-second time limit between innings, and wanting to avoid a penalty strike, Zech rushed into the batter's box.

Then he promptly hit Chavez's first pitch over the left-field fence, clearing it by 15 feet.

"It was like, 'See it, hit it," Zech said. "I guess the not thinking helped."

The Pilots scored again in the eighth when Caple walked and eventually came home on a wild pitch. But that was all Warlop had to work with. So when he finally gave up a hit, it was a concern, especially since it was a leadoff double down the right-field line.

"Hanging curveball," Warlop explained. "It happens."

Two outs later, the Blues' Brad Anzman hit a high chopper off the artificial turf. Anchorage shortstop Jose Ortega fielded it, double pumped and threw to first. But it was too late to get Anzman and Dodge flew around third to score. After a walk, Bo Ashabraner replaced Warlop and struck out Dan Winterberg, the Blues' hottest hitter, to end the inning.

But Ashabraner found trouble in the ninth. He gave up a one-out double to Ande Collup and threw a wild pitch that moved Collup to third. Collup scored on a groundout, cutting the lead to 3-2.

Dodge then roped a single to right field. He moved to second when Ashabraner walked John Preston, the nine-hole hitter.

So Miller turned to his closer, Kevin Lynch -- the same pitcher who blew the Pilots' 6-1 lead against Fairbanks on Friday.

"I was glad they gave me the ball again like that," Lynch said. "That gave me a lot of confidence. And that's the type of situation I'm used to, runners on in the ninth."

He poured in sliders, including one that could have been called strike three against San Luis Obispo leadoff batter Brian Finegan. He eventually got Finegan to hit a ground ball to third base, where David Nicholson made a good play in front of the advancing runner to just get Finegan and end the game.

There was no big celebration afterward, just some congratulatory slaps and smiles.

The Goldpanners simply moved from the back of the Pilots' heads to the front of their minds, really.

"We're going to get after them," Lynch said. "I'd rather face them than anybody else in the tournament."