Anchorage Daily News

Wichita, Kan. -- Even as the 170 pounds Fairbanks pitcher Zak Basch carries on his 6-foot-4 frame were being pummeled, his wide, smirkish smile was visible from the 20th row at Lawrence-Dumont Stadium.

Not coincidentally, his grin was aimed right at the Glacier Pilots dugout.

It was a painful sight for the Anchorage players and coaches -- watching Fairbanks celebrate an 8-3 win in Sunday's championship game of the NBC World Series.

Just as stinging was what happened a few seconds later. Progressively quicker and louder, the chant took over the night air.

"Gold-panners. GOLD-panners. GOLD-PANNERS!"

"Oh yeah, this is just awesome," Fairbanks outfielder Scott Robinson said. "To come out of the loser's bracket and get this feeling, it's just all the better, man."

For the same reason, it was all the worse for the Pilots. Both their losses in Wichita were to the Panners. They led the first matchup 6-1. They had a lead Sunday, too. If they win either game, they probably repeat as NBC champion.

Instead, they were left watching the Panners pull on celebratory T-shirts before forming a line to shake hands.

Five minutes after the game was over, Anchorage shortstop Jose Ortega was still smoldering in the dugout, pacing back and forth while tears fell down his face.

As good as last year's title felt, this loss felt just as bad, he confirmed with a mumbled, "Yeah."

"I feel like there were plays I could have made to beat them the first time," said Ortega, a two-time all-tournament selection. "And I feel like there were a couple of plays I could have made tonight."

Indeed, the pitching and defense that carried the Pilots last season and this season had some rough spots Sunday.

Pilots starter Dennis Bigley, who threw a two-hit shutout earlier in the tournament, gave up a run in each of the first two innings. He was replaced by Mike Dennison in just the second inning.

But Anchorage overcame that early stumble. The Pilots scored a run in the third when Tommy Caple's single brought it Bryan Zech. They scored again in the fourth when Ortega raced home on a wild pitch.

In the seventh inning, Bob Grant reached on an error, moved to second on David Nicholson's sacrifice bunt and moved to third on Zech's groundout. One batter later, with two outs, Caple laid a bunt down the third-base line and just beat the throw to first base.

Anchorage led 3-2. And that's when the Panners took over.

Dennison hit Fairbanks' Todd Jennings with his first pitch in the seventh inning. Jennings moved to second base on Tony Perez's bunt. Ryan Haag then hit an easy grounder to Zech at second. Normally sure-handed, he let it go in and out of his glove.

That brought up the tournament's hottest hitter, Blake Gill. He ripped a single to center field, scoring Jennings and tying the score. Robinson followed with a double to right-center field off Ryan Mentkowski, scoring Haag.

"To get the hit that gave us the lead," Robinson said, searching for the right words, "wow."

With runners at first and third and still only one out, Bo Ashabraner replaced Mentkowski. the first batter he faced, Mike Hofius, hit a ground ball to Ortega. He scooped it up, took a step, double-pumped and then threw home. By that time, Gill was already sliding in for a 5-3 lead.

The whole thing was painful for Zech to watch.

"I never thought our defense would let us down," Zech said. "That one error beat us. I don't know what else to say."

Fairbanks took any suspense out of the game in the bottom of the eighth inning. Singles from Jennings, Haag and Gill led to three more runs, and visions of the postgame celebration were dancing in the Panners' heads.

It was a stunning turn of events.

"To be honest with you," Anchorage coach Bob Miller replied when asked what happened, "I'm at a loss for words right now."

The Panners weren't. Coach Ed Cheff had so many words, he was on his cell phone when the championship trophy was officially presented to the team.

"I was trying to call my wife," he said, "but I think she was watching the game on the Internet."

Once again, NBC fans watched Alaska dominate a tournament. Fairbanks now has won the NBC six times, breaking a tie with the Pilots on top of that list. It was the 16th time an Alaska team has won, matching Kansas for the most by a state.

"From the day we got here, we thought we might be seeing (the Pilots) tonight," Cheff said. "That's a really good club we had to beat twice here. Doing it the way we did it certainly makes it more special."