Eielson Icemen win MSBL championship

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  • 354th Fighter Wing Public Affairs
EIELSON AIR FORCE BASE, Alaska --  The Eielson' baseball team capped an extraordinary season with an 8-7 victory over the Padres in the Fairbanks Men's Senior Baseball League championship game Aug. 3 at the Arco Field in Fairbanks. The Icemen finished 16-2 on the season and swept the playoffs in three straight games to win the league for the first time.

Game three of the playoffs saw Eielson down early in the first inning after a two out, two run homerun by the Padres. Thanks to a diving catch out in left field by Justin Hendrick, who was solid for the Icemen all year, more runs were prevented.

Eielson got two runs back in the bottom half of the inning thanks to a Juan Torres two run double driving and KC McPeak and Alex Lauritzen who both singled to lead off the inning.

The scoring continued for the Padres as they tacked on three more runs in the second due to some lucky bounces and fielder miscues. It was a lead that would hold most of the game.

In the fourth inning a Kenneth Schafer single drove in Torres bringing the score to 5-3. Eielson inched closer in the fifth inning on a Scot Brown single driving in McPeak.

After pitching five strong innings and allowing only three earned runs, Brown was relieved by Joshua Knight. Knight gave up two quick runs in the sixth inning driving the score to 7-4 Padres lead. That's when the Icemen got the spark they needed to turn things around.

A Mike Panfil walk, a Schafer single and a Knight walk started off the sixth the right way. Lauritzen capitalized on the opportunity and drove in two runs on a single. Not to be outdone, McPeak singled in one more run and later scored the go-ahead run on a two out double by Landon Huffman giving the Icemen the lead for good.

Knight took the mound and pitched well in the final inning, but found the tying run on third with only one out. The next Padres' batter was intentionally walked to set up the double play and gave the team a first and third situation. The next Padres hitter sent a hard shot down the left side and looked like it would tie the game, but with a long reach and a snow-cone catch, Schafer corralled it. With the steal on, the runner was not able to get back to first in time. Schafer fired a bullet to first basemen Torres for the final out giving Eielson the 8-7 victory.

"The Fairbanks MSBL is a great organization giving us the opportunity to continue to play baseball. Even if you didn't get that college scholarship, or go on to play in the big leagues," said Tim Huffman, player/coach.

"The teams get to know each other, and while quite a bit of good-natured ribbing goes on during the games, afterwards new friends are made and the baseball community's bond with Eielson is strengthens," he said.

The MSBL provides adult players the opportunity to play baseball at a competitive level on a regular basis in a professionally-run environment. The MSBL is a national organization with 325 local affiliates, 3,200 teams and 45,000 members who play organized amateur baseball in local leagues.

Huffman said a large portion of entry fees and league funds goes back into the local high school and American Legion teams which allow the use of their fields for the men's league to play on. Time spent working on the fields is also one of the donations the league contributes. "Overall, this is a great program for Fairbanks and Eielson and since we plan to having a team next year too, keep your eyes open next spring for tryouts and give it a shot," Huffman said.

The Eielson team consists of Scott Brown, K.C. McPeak, Justin Swanson, Justin Hendrick, Mike Panfil, Juan Torres, Landon Huffman, Mike Kistner, Mike Rady, Tyler Huges, Joshua Knight, Kodiak Reed, Kris Woods, Alex Lauritzen and Kenneth Schafer.