Following a rain-postponed contest Sunday in Kenai, the Anchorage Glacier Pilots and Peninsula Oilers picked up where they left off in the sixth inning Thursday evening at Mulcahy Park in Anchorage in Alaska Baseball League play.
As if that wasn’t already long enough, both teams found themselves going to extra innings under difficult, rainy conditions.
Four days and 6 1-2 hours after it started, the marathon event ended after 15 innings of play — nine of them on Thursday — and a combined 122 plate appearances.
The Pilots ended up grabbing a 4-2 win over the Oilers, scoring four runs in the top of the 15th on two throwing errors and holding off a two-run charge at the bottom of the inning. The second originally scheduled game was canceled just before 9 p.m. due to heavy rain.
The loss is the fifth straight for the slumping Oilers, who are now 12-13 in the American League, while the Anchorage Bucs lead with a 13-12 record. The Pilots are 14-15 in the ABL.
In 61 total plate appearances, the Pilots only managed five hits, while the Oilers recorded 11 hits in 61 at-bats, but also had five errors.
Drake Robison pitched a full game by himself, throwing nine scoreless innings and delivering 125 pitches to earn the win for the Pilots. Robison gave up four hits, walked four and struck out nine. Corey Abbott took the loss on the mound for the Oilers, pitching one inning and giving up one hit, three walks and getting one strikeout.
At the plate, Brent Diaz led the Oilers with seven plate appearances, getting three hits and two RBI, including a triple. Ted Boeke and Alex Seifert also walked up to bat seven times, with two hits from Seifert.
Cameron Comer set the winning sequence in motion with a leadoff triple in the 15th, and was followed by a pair of walks by Abbott, the latter one intentional to load the bases.
With the Oilers infield tightened up, Jack Anderson hit to shortstop Boeke, who missed on the throw home, allowing two runs to score. Later, Boeke committed another throwing error that brought another run in. Ultimately, the Pilots scored four runs on one hit.
In the bottom of the inning, the Oilers loaded the bases with two outs on a walk by Brian Ruhm. Diaz made good on the opportunity by sending out a two-RBI single, closing the deficit to 4-2.
The Oilers came agonizingly close in the bottom of the ninth, loading the bases with no outs on the board but coming away empty-handed. Diaz smacked a leadoff triple and was followed by Blake Wilfong and Jimmy Galusky being intentionally walked to load the bases with no outs.
After James Fowlkes hit a shallow pop up to right field for the first out, pinch hitter Mark Sanchez hit right to Robison, who started a 1-2-3 double play to end the inning.
Additionally, the Pilots managed to get out of the 13th inning on just four pitches by Robison.
Peninsula had another opportunity in the bottom of the 11th, as Ruhm led off with a single, but ultimately was left in scoring position at third when Galusky struck out to end the inning.
The Oilers had runners on the corners with no outs in the bottom of the sixth, but came away with nothing.
The Oilers will face the Alaska Goldpanners of Fairbanks today at 4 p.m. in a nonleague game that serves to showcase ABL talent to scouts.
Thursday
Pilots 4, Oilers 2, 15 inn.
Pilots AB R H BI Oilers AB R H BI
Hmbl cf 5 1 1 0 Wshm lf 3 0 1 0
Btsl 2b 6 0 1 0 Rvra lf 1 0 0 0
Wgnr lf 4 0 0 0 Snhz ph 1 0 0 0
Adrn lf 2 1 0 0 Wlsn lf 2 0 0 0
Crlo 3b 6 1 0 0 Sfrt 3b 7 0 2 0
Vrs 1b 6 0 0 0 Olvr 1b 6 1 2 0
Vzqz rf 3 0 0 0 Bke ss 7 1 0 0
Lchr rf 1 0 0 0 Ruhm rf 5 0 1 0
Mrny rf 3 0 0 2 Diaz dh 7 0 3 2
Crts dh 5 0 2 0 Wlfg c 5 0 1 0
Wtsn ph 1 0 0 0 Glky 2b 4 0 1 0
Cmr c 4 1 1 0 Fwlk cf 5 0 0 0
Totals 46 4 5 2 Totals 53 2 11 2
Pilots 000 000 000 000 004 —4
Oilers 000 000 000 000 002 —2
HP — Fowlkes (4). SB — Hamblin 3 (13), Carrillo (3), Crites (10), Ruhm (9), Galusky (6). E — Oliver (4), Boeke 2 (4), Wilfong (1), Fowlkes (1). LOB — Pilots 12, Oilers 14.
IP H R ER BB SO
Pilots
Hibbs 5.0 5 0 0 1 1
Robison, W 9.0 4 0 0 3 9
Brown 1.0 2 2 2 2 1
Oilers
Medeles 4.0 2 0 0 5 7
VanStone 3.0 1 0 0 0 3
Michel 1.0 0 0 0 0 1
Lujan 3.0 0 0 0 0 4
Ennis 1.1 1 0 0 1 0
Kron 1.2 0 0 0 1 0
Abbott 1.0 1 4 0 3 1
