Baseball is a game built on the routine, but there was little ordinary about the Anchorage Bucs' 4-1 nonleague victory over the Michigan Monarchs on Thursday night.
And that's not even taking into account the three-run, walk-off home run Bucs third baseman Jim Geldhof mashed with one out in the bottom of the 12th inning.
Any game that includes a catcher making a tag at third base to finish a double play, a right fielder gunning down a runner at first base and three guys striking out on third-strike foul bunts is just not another night at the park.
Those curiosities merely scratched the surface of the strange happenings at wind-whipped Mulcahy Stadium, where the Bucs improved to 2-0 and the Monarchs got off to a tough start to their two-week road trip through the Alaska Baseball League.
Geldhof finally ended the oddities with what, compared to the quirkiness of the rest of the game, amounted to relatively standard fare.
With runners on first and third bases, the left-handed hitting Geldhof turned on the first offering from Monarch's right-handed reliever Jim Lovell and deposited it beyond the right field wall for the Bucs' first homer this season.
That performance was a continuation of Geldohf's terrific college season at Central Michigan, where he tied a school single-season record with 97 hits in 56 games, drove in 68 runs and led the team in hitting (.427) and slugging percentage (.656).
Geldhof's blast made a winner out of Bucs right-hander Jon Wilson, the second-team All-American from Winthrop University who pitched five innings of scoreless, two-hit relief. Wilson, who was 11-0 in college with five saves and a 1.88 ERA, entered at the start of the eighth inning to replace starter Andy Pape, who was no slouch himself. Pape allowed just three hits and one unearned run in seven innings.
Until Geldhof's game-winning homer, the game was most notable for terrific pitching -- Monarchs starter Mark Rasmussen scattered seven hits and allowed just one unearned run in 62/3 innings -- and some rarely seen plays.
Bucs right fielder Travis Becktel, the hitting and fielding hero of Wednesday night's season-opening 3-1 win over the California Dons, pulled off another brilliant outfield play to end the Monarchs' sixth inning. Michigan designated hitter Kevin Zerbo singled sharply to right and Becktel, playing shallow, charged the ball, gloved it on one hop and fired a bullet to first baseman Jerin Harper to gun down Zerbo by half a step.
The Monarchs pulled off an unusual defensive play of their own in the first inning. Bucs center fielder Truan Mehl was on first base when Issac Omura sent a soft chopper down the third base line. Monarchs third baseman Jake Pawlak threw out Omura at first base and first baseman Matt Moffett relayed a throw across the diamond to third base, where catcher Brad Hrovat applied the tag on Mehl to complete the double play.
That was hardly the end of the weirdness. Monarchs second baseman Ryan Laude reached second base on a walk in the fifth when the fourth ball from Pape sailed to backstop. Bucs catcher Trevor Weedon momentarily froze before he raced to recover the ball and Laude beat his throw to second base.
That's not all. Bucs shortstop Joey Wilson attempted to steal second base in the ninth, but pulled up two-thirds of the way to the bag when it appeared he would be thrown out easily. But Hrovat's throw sailed into center field, which allowed Joey Wilson to coast into second base.
Both teams plated unearned runs in the third inning. The Bucs had a chance to score a go-ahead run in the fifth, but Monarchs left fielder Brendan Rosenbergh threw out Greg Kish trying to score from second base on Geldhof's single.
Finally, though, Geldhof in the 12th inning cleared the small crowd from the stadium in a way that seemed routine on a strange night. He thumped a pitch, rounding the bases and accepted high-fives and backslaps from his teammates as they celebrated at home plate.
Daily News assistant sports editor Doyle Woody can be reached at dwoody@adn.com.
MICHIGAN ab r h bi BUCS ab r h bi
Arnett cf 4 0 0 1 Mehl cf 6 0 2 0
Watson ss 4 0 1 0 Omura 2b 6 1 1 0
Moffett 1b 5 0 0 0 Becktel rf 5 0 0 0
Hrovat c 5 0 0 0 Kish lf 4 1 3 0
Zerbo dh 5 0 0 0 Geldhof 3b 5 1 2 3
Pawlak 3b 4 0 3 0 JoWilson ss 3 0 0 0
Duffy rf 5 0 1 0 Harper 1b 4 0 2 0
Laude 2b 3 0 0 0 Weedon c 5 1 1 0
Rosnbrgh lf 3 1 0 0 Johnson dh 3 0 0 0
Gonzalez ph 0 0 0 0
Totals 38 1 5 1 Totals 41 4 11 3
Michigan Monarchs 001 000 000 000 -- 1
Bucs 001 000 000 003 -- 4
One out when winning run scored. E -- Pape, Duffy, Hrovat, Joey Wilson. DP -- Monarchs 2, Bucs 2. LOB -- Monarchs 5, Bucs 12. 2B -- Duffy, Omura. HR -- Geldhof. SB -- Mehl, Harper, Weedon. S -- Johnson, Geldhof. SF -- Arnett.
Michigan Monarchs ip h r er bb so
Rasmussen 62/3 7 1 0 2 2
Husain 12/3 0 0 0 2 1
Lovell L 21/3 4 3 3 1 2
Bucs ip h r er bb so
Pape 7 3 1 0 3 4
Jon Wilson W, 1-0 5 2 0 0 0 4
HBP -- by Pape (Watson), by Lovell (Becktel), by Lovell (Gonzalez). Balk -- Rasmussen. Umpires -- Plate, Harrison; Bases, Gibbs. T-- 2:50. A -- 231.
