The Peninsula Oilers lost the game Wednesday night (and Thursday morning) but did get to share in the record.
The Oilers’ 4-3 loss to the Anchorage Glacier Pilots at Mulcahy Stadium in Anchorage set the new mark for the longest game in league history. In 1992, the Pilots defeated British Columbia’s Kamloops Sandpipers 5-4 in 21 innings, but that was a nonleague game.
Coincidentally, the Oilers’ record game took place on the longest day of the year.
“The way the guys are looking at it is they played the longest game on the longest day of the year,” said James Clark, the general manager of the Oilers.
The game, which started at 7 p.m., took over five and a half hours to complete, finishing at about 12:30 a.m. Thursday morning. The Pilots-Sandpipers game took 6 hours, 39 minutes, and finished just before 2 a.m.
Deadlocked in a 3-all tie after 21 innings, the Oilers lost on wild pitch by Chris Kono. Pilots’ Matt Daugherty was stationed at third and Jeff Kremer was batting. Kono got Kremer swinging for the inning’s second out, but the ball was in the dirt and got past catcher Riley Heinzer, allowing Daugherty to score.
The Oilers recorded 15 hits, while the Pilots managed an astounding 19 hits.
Oscar Sanay scored first for the Oilers in the top of the fifth inning, hitting a triple to lead off the inning. The Pilots answered back in the same inning when Axel Johnson scored off a Kremer triple.
Alex Staehely hit a triple in the seventh inning, which led to him sneaking a run when the Pilots catcher lost control of the ball.
Again, the Pilots answered back in the same inning, as Daugherty and Johnson scored off a Nick Backlund double, taking a 3-2 lead.
Nigel Nootbaar scored the tying run for the Oilers when Nate Ring managed to receive a walk with the bases loaded, bringing the game to a 3-3 tie.
From there, the Oilers and Pilots went back and forth in extra innings, as each team’s pitching was able to stifle any chance at scoring.
Jeff Yamaguchi led the Oilers with four hits for eight at-bats, and Staehely went 3 for 7. Nate Ring recorded two RBI.
Brandon Kizer pitched five innings, the most for the Oilers, and had two strikeouts. Kyle Ferramola and John Straka each pitched three innings with two strikeouts as well.
Kremer led the Pilots by going 4 for 7.
Pitcher Luke Bublitz pitched eight innings for the Pilots with five strikeouts, and Sam Johns recorded six strikeouts in seven innings. Pitcher Eric Karch had the win.
Neither team had to use any position players on the mound. The Oilers used nine pitchers, and the Pilots used six pitchers. The Oilers threw 290 pitches, while the Pilots delivered 266. Each team had 13 different players appear at the plate, with the Pilots rolling up 71 at-bats, and the Oilers getting 69.
Wednesday
Pilots 4, Oilers 3, 21 inn.
OilersABRHBIPilotsABRHBI
Alvrz 3b8000Spoon cf9020
Millr lf9010Swick 3b8020
Ymgchi 1b8040Cornls ss9020
Rchrdsn dh8010Lplw rf8010
Mrtnz c3000Jhnsn lf5240
Ntbr ph1110Mnzr lf3000
Hnzr c5000DeLng ph1000
Sthly ss7130Dghrty 1b8230
Sanay 2b3110Kremer c6031
Maciel ph1000Bnntt dh2000
Koch 2b3010Bcklnd ph6022
Hein rf6030Kapln 2b2000
Ring7002Natov 2b4000
Totals693152Totals714193
Oilers000010101000000000000—3
Pilots000010200000000000001—4
E — Hein, Cornelius. LOB — Oilers 11, Pilots 15. 2B — Miller, Richardson, Koch, Cornelius, Backlund. 3B — Staehely, Sanay, Kremer. SH — Alvarez, Yamaguchi, Swick, Luplow, Daugherty. SB — Hein, Manzer. CS — Yamaguchi.
IPHRERBBSO
Oilers
Kizer531112
Garcia142210
Thompson2 2-320011
Coates1 2-310011
Cohen2 2-310000
Warner020000
Ferramola320002
Straka310022
Kono, L1 1-331101
Pilots
Johns762116
Benson100000
Munson331133
Leary110010
Bublitz8 1-350005
Karch, W2-300002
PB — Heinzer 1, Kremer. WP — Kono 2.
