The Fairbanks Goldpanners finally flashed their explosive offense Sunday, and just in time to avert elimination at the National Baseball Congress World Series in Wichita, Kansas.
Coming off a loss in their tournament opener Saturday, the Alaska Baseball League champions scored all their runs from the sixth inning on Sunday to rack an 8-3 victory over the Sedalia (Missouri) Bombers and remain alive in the double-elimination tournament that crowns the king of summer amateur baseball.
Fairbanks cemented the victory with three ninth-inning runs. The Panners delivered just one hit in the inning, but used a walk, a hit batter and two balks to give themselves insurance runs.
After Scott Hurst's RBI triple in the top of the sixth inning cut Sedalia's lead to 2-1, the Panners scored four runs in the seventh on Mike Wieland's RBI single, Kris Paulino's RBI triple, Vahn Bozoian's RBI single and a run-scoring double-play ball.
Every Fairbanks batter either generated a hit or scored a run.
Right-hander Tylor Megill earned the victory. He went seven innings, scattered eight hits and two earned runs, and struck out three. He did not walk a batter. Miles Chambers pitched the last two innings.
The Goldpanners, who fell 4-2 in Saturday's opener against the St. Joseph (Missouri) Mustangs, play another elimination game Monday when they face the Arvada (Colorado) Colts. Arvada lost, 10-4, to the Haysville (Kansas) Aviators on Sunday.