Soldotna 5, West Anchorage 0
On Friday, the Soldotna Stars continued their dominance from the pitching mound with a shutout win over the West Anchorage Eagles. Colby Sturman and Derrick Jones scattered four Eagles’ hits across a combined seven scoreless innings. The game was played at Bartlett High School Baseball Field.
Sturman earned the win, starting the game and striking out six batters in three innings of work while only allowing three hits. Jones took over in the fourth and only allowed one hit in four innings to pick up the save. Jones added another four strikeouts.
Offensively, the Stars started out strong, plating three runs in the top of the first, but cooled off noticeably once Eagles starting pitcher John Hazelwood was pulled for reliever Makai Baylous. Baylous was ineffectively effective. He held the Stars hitless for four and one third innings, but allowed nine baserunners on five walks and four hit batters.
SoHi turned two of the Baylous free bases into runs in the top of the sixth without adding a hit. Andrew Pieh scored on a wild pitch, and Easton Hawkins crossed the plate on an RBI groundout by Tucker Blough.
Matthew Schilling scored one run and reached base in four of his five plate appearances, going 1-2 with one walk and two hit-by-pitchs.
Player of the Game: Colby Sturman.
Soldotna 11, Bartlett 4
In the second game of their Friday doubleheader, the Soldotna Stars ran away from the Barlett Golden Bears to extend their season-opening win streak versus DI opponents to three straight games. The bats, which were largely quiet during the game against West Anchorage, woke up and the Stars scored 11 runs on 13 hits.
In the third inning, Andrew Pieh broke things open with a towering 3-run home run over the left field fence, putting the Stars up 4-0. Pieh finished the game 1-2 with 3 RBIs and a run scored.
Brayden Hostetler was 3-4 and added two RBIs as well as two runs scored.
Pieh, who started the game on the mound, pitched well through the first three innings, only allowing one hit while striking out two. He ran into trouble with two outs in the fourth, however, when the Golden Bears strung together four straight singles and scored a run. Pieh was pulled for lefty Matthew Schilling, who allowed one run in one and a third innings. Levi Mickelson pitched the sixth and seventh innings.
Player of the Game: Andrew Pieh.
On Saturday morning, the Stars face the three-time defending Division I State Champion South Anchorage Wolverines.
Kenai 18, Kodiak 3
The Kenai Central Kardinals bounced back from a tough season-opening loss to the Homer Mariners with a shellacking of the visiting Kodiak Bears.
The Kardinals scored 10 times in the first two innings, then mercy-ruled the Bears with a 15-run advantage after four innings of play.
Gabe Joanis went 3-3, stole two bases, and scored three times.
Starting pitcher Braden Smith spread three hits across three and a third innings of work, allowing one earned run while striking out four and only walking one batter. Smith also went 1-2 from the plate and came around to score all three times he got on base.
Player of the Game: Braden Smith.
Next up, the Kardinals play Kodiak again on Saturday at 12:00 p.m.
