The American Legion Twins defeated Eagle River 10-9 in extra innings Friday to give the local nine its ninth win in its last 10 league games.
The win moves the Twins to 11-6 in the league and puts them in fourth place in the league standings heading into Saturday’s regular-season finale against Service in Anchorage at noon.
Friday’s game was scheduled for seven innings, but Eagle River came back to tie the game at 9 in the bottom of the seventh.
With two outs and nobody on in the top of the eighth, JJ Sonnen was hit by a pitch, Terrance Slats walked and Calvin Hills reached on an error to score Sonnen.
Justice Miller then faced just three batters in the bottom of the eighth to keep Eagle River off the board.
“It was a nerve-wracking game,” Twins coach Robb Quelland said. “When we got up, I think we lost a little bit of focus, but we were able to pull it out at the end.”
The Twins were up 5-1 headed into the fourth inning, but Quelland said Eagle River played excellent baseball in eventually rallying to tie.
Matthew Daugherty pitched the first four innings for the Twins and gave up three runs — two earned.
Klayton Justice gave up five earned runs in two innings, while Kyle Johnson gave up a run in an inning.
“It was another game of no errors,” Quelland said. “Other than one inning, the pitching was exceptional.”
Kenny Griffin was 2 for 3 with an RBI, Miller was 2 for 4 with two RBIs and a triple, and Hills was 2 for 5 with an RBI.
Quelland said the one problem was the Twins continued to run the bases poorly, losing four runners to poor judgment or understanding of the situation.
