Fairbanks Goldpanners right-hander Kevin Welch struck out seven of the first nine batters he faced and his teammates hammered the Anchorage Bucs for nine runs in the first three innings Thursday night.
And all parties were thoroughly upstaged.
A small plane carrying a pilot and three passengers crashed just beyond the left field wall at Mulcahy Stadium in the top of the third inning, prompting a 47-minute delay as police and emergency medical officials worked the scene.
Once play resumed, the Goldpanners finished their 10-2 beating of the host team in the Bucs' Wood Bat Invitational and kept alive their chances of winning the six-team tournament that features all the Alaska Baseball League teams.
The Goldpanners, Athletes In Action and and Mat-Su Miners are all 3-1 in the five-day, round-robin tournament that concludes today.
Mat-Su can win the Invitational if it defeats AIA in a 1 p.m. game today. Should AIA win that game, the Goldpanners can still win the tournament by defeating the Peninsula Oilers in a 4 p.m. game. If AIA wins and Fairbanks loses, AIA wins the title and the $3,000 prize.
At stake in tonight's 7:15 game between the Anchorage Glacier Pilots (1-3 in the tournament) and Bucs (0-4) that closes the ABL season is nothing more than the pride always on the line in a rivalry.
The Goldpanners mauled Bucs starter Jordan Crews for four runs in the first inning and tacked on another run in the second inning. Fairbanks didn't treat Bucs reliever Chuck Withers any more kindly -- Goldpanners catcher Emerson Frostad homered off Withers' first pitch and the Goldpanners scored four runs in the inning.
Welch, meanwhile, cruised, before and immediately after the plane crashed. He faced the minimum 12 batters through four innings and finished with nine strikeouts and allowed just four hits in his six innings of the seven-inning game.
The Bucs finally cracked Welch on Kurt Suzuki's two-run double in the sixth inning.
Frostad spearheaded Fairbanks' 17-hit attack with a 4 for 5 night that included a home run, double and three RBIs. Jeff Culpepper also drove in three runs for the Goldpanners.
Assistant sports editor Doyle Woody can be reached at dwoody@adn.com.
