The annual Mayor's Cup baseball series between the Anchorage Bucs and Anchorage Glacier Pilots has generated a slew of taut thrillers and dramatic doings since its debut in 1990.
The 2003 edition did little to contribute to that legacy.
The Bucs dispatched the Glacier Pilots, 7-3, at Mulcahy Stadium on Thursday night, humbling their city rivals for the second straight evening and winning the Cup for just the fifth time in 14 years.
Thursday's Bucs victory, in which they scored three first-inning runs and never allowed their lead to shrink to less than two runs, followed Wednesday's 11-0 blowout in the opener and rendered tonight's Game 3 little more than an exhibition.
For a Bucs team that sits in last place in the six-team Alaska Baseball League, taking back the Cup back from the Glacier Pilots was beautiful bounty -- it helped salvage their season. They also assured themselves of winning the season series because Thursday's win gave them a 6-3 edge over the Pilots this summer with two games remaining between the teams.
The history of the Cup is filled with gems. There was Brooks Kieschnick's 11-inning, Cup-clinching complete game in a 1-0 Bucs victory in 1992. In 1997, the Glacier Pilots used Danny Giles' 12th-inning homer and closer Marc Bluma's gutsy six innings of one-hit relief to win a Cup game 14-13. The Bucs in 2000 rallied for three runs in the top of the ninth inning of Game 3 to win 8-6. And in 2002, Dennis Bigley of the Glacier Pilots threw a complete-game, one-hitter in a 1-0 win to force a decisive Game 3 that the Pilots won.
By comparison, Thursday's game started out about as crisp as a dollar bill that has been through the wash. With the Bucs batting to open the game, the Pilots committed three errors before they even got three outs. That helped the Bucs earn a 3-0 lead off the Pilots' starter, who should be known as Hector "Hard Luck'' Ambriz.
Five of the six runs Ambriz surrendered Thursday were unearned -- two Pilots errors helped the Bucs score three runs in the sixth -- and that's the story of his summer. He has allowed just 11 earned runs in 432/3 innings, but has seen his defense surrender 13 unearned runs, which in large part is why he is 0-4 despite a sparkling 2.27 earned-run average.
The Pilots committed five errors and didn't appear focused. When second baseman Dustin Realini injured his leg turning an inning-ending double play in the top of the second, he went to the Pilots' clubhouse and was done for the evening. He was the second man due to hit in the bottom of the inning, but no one was sent to hit for him until players alerted manager Kris Didion, who was manning the third-base coaching box. Finally, Didion had Ambriz hit in Realini's spot.
Kurt Suzuki of the Bucs on Thursday hit his second homer in two nights and drove in two runs. After he swung so hard he nearly fell down earlier, in his eighth-inning at bat against Pilots right-hander Andy Shipman, Suzuki cranked a 1-2 pitch over the wall in left-center field.
Bucs starter Ryan Weems (2-1) allowed just one earned run in seven innings and reliever Chuck Withers pitched two innings of scoreless relief.
While the Bucs committed just one error, turned five double plays and laced 20 hits combined Wednesday and Thursday, the Pilots committed eight errors and managed just 13 hits, though they did turn four double plays.
And if you judged by the box scores, the two games looked like a beanball war -- there were five hits batsmen each night. But most of those were simply pitches that nicked batters and perhaps half of them came on breaking balls or change-ups.
Assistant sports editor Doyle Woody can be reached at dwoody@adn.com.
Oilers douse Fire
Peninsula used a big first inning to beat Athletes in Action 8-3 on Thursday at Growden Park in Fairbanks.
The Oilers, which scored four runs in the top half of the first, rapped 13 hits against AIA pitching.
The win moved Peninsula to sole possession of third place in the ABL. The two teams were tied at four games back of Fairbanks going into the game.
Ladd Hall pitched 81/3 innings and recorded the win for the Oilers.
Panners punch ticket
Derek Bruce's one-out single in the bottom of the 12th inning Wednesday lifted the Fairbanks Goldpanners to a wild, 10-9 ABL win over the visiting Peninsula Oilers and clinched Fairbanks a berth in the National Baseball Congress World Series.
The league-leading Goldpanners rallied from a two-run deficit in the bottom of the ninth inning and a three-run deficit in the bottom of the 11th en route to a sweep of the teams' doubleheader.
Goldpanner outfielder Jeff Culpepper went 7 for 7, including a home run and a double, to set a team single-game record.
Bruce, who finished with six of the Panners' 26 hits, had RBI singles in the ninth, 11th and 12th innings. The teams combined for 41 hits, including three home runs, and combined to leave 25 runners stranded on base, 17 by the Goldpanners.
ABL STANDINGS
Alaska Baseball League
W L Pct. GB Overall
Panners 21 12 .636 -- 28-16
Pilots 18 16 .529 31/2 21-22
Oilers 17 15 .531 31/2 23-20
Athletes in Action 15 15 .500 41/2 19-16
Miners 14 19 .424 7 18-22
Bucs 12 20 .375 81/2 17-22
RESULTS AND SCHEDULE
Wednesday's Results Winning Pitcher Losing Pitcher
Panners 4, Oilers 0 Johnson (3-2) Coleman (0-2)
Panners 10, Oilers 9 McCaslin (2-0) Ekstrom (4-3)
Miners 2, AIA 0 Kolberg (5-3) Broadway
Bucs 11, Pilots 0 Timm (2-0) Rivas (3-4)
Thursday's Results Winning Pitcher Losing Pitcher
Bucs 7, Pilots 3 Weems (2-1) Ambriz (0-4)
Oilers 8, AIA 3 Hall (3-0) Letson (4-2)
Today's Games Location Time
Panners at Miners Hermon Brothers 6:30 p.m.
Oilers at AIA Growden Park 7 p.m.
Pilots at Bucs Mulcahy Stadium 7:15 p.m.
