The Post 20 Twins ended their season by losing 3-2 in nine innings to Service Post 28 on Tuesday in the 73rd Alaska Legion Baseball State Tournament at Mulcahy Stadium in Anchorage.
The Cougars (22-4), the No. 1 overall seed and defending tourney champion, advance to the 5 p.m. Wednesday final for a fourth straight season. No. 3 Wasilla Post 35 defeated No. 8 Eagle River 6-4 in the other semifinal to avoid an Eagle River-Service matchup in the title game for a fourth straight season.
The No. 2 Twins finish 24-7-2 after losing in the state semifinal for the third time in four seasons. Post 20 returned just three full-time starters from last season and has all but two players eligible to return next year, yet the Twins still put together a season that included a 15-game winning streak.
The Cougars, who also won the Division I state high school title in 2024, won for a 14th straight time Tuesday, but had to come from behind twice to do it.
After Kolby Jensen, who would go 3 for 3, hit a one-out triple to score Takumi Kosaka with one out in the bottom of the seventh to tie the game at 2 and send the taut affair to extra innings, Owen Hickman had a walkoff single with no outs to score Hunter Christian in the ninth inning.
Hickman, who also had a walkoff hit to defeat Juneau Post 25 on Monday, picked up the win against the Twins with three innings of scoreless relief.
Twins head coach Robb Quelland said the game showed just how far his team has come this season.
“The maturity and toughness of the players was just there today,” he said after the program came up short of a fifth state title. “This was a team we haven’t seen all year.
“They were ready for everything that was put in front of them. They matched Service’s dominant team from top to bottom. They have a full roster of 18 capable players. We went against a collegiate level pitcher today.”
In a 1-0 loss to Service in the 2023 state semis, Hunter Christian dominated the Twins in a complete-game shutout that saw him give up four hits and a walk while striking out seven.
Two years later and with a year at Chipola College in Florida under his belt, Christian was outpitched by Matthew Schilling, an incoming senior at Soldotna High School.
It was a coming out party for Schilling, who did not get any of the three starts as Soldotna High School worked its way to a fourth straight Division II state title in June.
“They were talking more about him than their own pitcher,” Quelland said of Service after the game. “That speaks loudly of how Matthew pitched today and what they think of him in the league.”
Both starters went six innings. Schilling gave up a run on three hits while walking two and striking out seven. Christian gave up two runs on five hits while walking five and striking out five.
The Twins struck first in the second inning, when Clyde Clemens, who went 2 for 3, singled with one out, went to second on a Jackson Koetitz walk and scored on a double by Malakai BeDunnah.
Koetitz then tried to score after the throw to first on a grounder by Ari Miller, but Koetitz was cut down at home.
“We came out and surprised them by how well we played — our patience at the plate and timely hitting,” Quelland said.
BeDunnah kept the Twins ahead in the bottom of the third, when he caught a fly ball from Chase Mascelli and gunned down Palmer Dalton at the plate to end the inning.
The Twins nearly doubled their lead in the fourth. With one out and Jacob Joanis, who went 2 for 3, on second, Clemens hit a grounder to Mascelli at short.
Mascelli tried to get Joanis at third but threw wildly. When the ball kicked away, Joanis bolted for home but Christian pounced on the ball and threw home in time.
Quelland said he had no problem with two Twins players getting cut down at the plate trying to double the lead.
“My thinking on both of those plays is we have to be aggressive,” he said. “We have to make a play. If we just stay sitting at third base, we may not get the timely hit.”
Schilling carried a no-hitter until two outs in the fifth inning, when Jensen doubled and Dalton singled to tie the game.
Hickman then singled and stole second to put runners on second and third, but Schilling struck out Mascelli.
The Twins grabbed the lead back in the top of sixth on a crazy sequence of events.
With runners on first and second and one out, Jayden Stuyvesant struck out and started running to first when the catcher didn’t handle the third strike cleanly.
Stuyvesant was automatically out because first base was occupied with less than two outs, but Joanis broke for second, causing Daniel Steffensen to break for third.
The Cougars appeared to have escaped the inning when Steffensen was tagged out going to third, but Christian was called for obstruction on Steffensen and that put runners on second and third.
After Clemens walked to load the bases, Koetitz singled to score Steffensen and keep the bases loaded.
BeDunnah then ripped a liner to right field and Kosaka very well may have saved the season with a leaping grab to end the inning. If the ball gets over his head, three runs probably score.
“He caught it in the fricking wickets of his glove,” Quelland said. “He still doesn’t realize he had the ball.”
Schilling then punctuated his appearance by striking out the Nos. 3 through 5 hitters in the Service lineup in the sixth.
Quelland said Schilling did a great job varying location, pitches and speeds, while Miller called a great game behind the plate.
“The pitch count is so low in Legion that we couldn’t go any farther with him,” Quelland said.
Post 20’s best reliever all season had been Stuyvesant, but he was not available to close out the seventh due to throwing too many pitches in a Monday victory over West Post 1.
Quelland had no problem giving the ball to BeDunnah.
“I have three guys I would let pitch in that situation, and two were unavailable,” Quelland said. “Jack Harper in that spot, or Stu or Malakai.
“They don’t get rattled by the noise or situation. They’re all confident.”
Service tied it on the Jensen triple with one out, but BeDunnah was able to strand Jensen on third, with Dalton popping out and Hickman lining to a diving Joanis at first base to end the inning.
The Twins had runners on first and second with one out in the eighth, but Hickman held firm.
In the bottom of the ninth, Christian and Jensen singled to start the inning, then Dalton walked to chase BeDunnah in favor of Jett Brophy.
Hickman hit a deep fly to right that, even if it was caught, was deep enough to score the winning run.
After getting run-ruled by Wasilla on Sunday and committing seven errors in the process, the Twins practiced two hours before defeating West on Monday, and practiced two more hours before the Service game.
“This is their year,” Quelland said of the Cougars. “We had our best game of the season, and came up short. That’s how baseball is.”
Quelland said it was a tough way for Miller and Gavin Peterson to end their time with the Twins.
“It was really hard to lose two of those gentlemen that have given a lot of years to our program and have done well and represented us,” Quelland said.
Other than that, the future looks bright, with Steffensen, Schilling and Stuyvesant all named to the All-Star Game.
“We have a couple holes that we have to fill,” Quelland said. “Everybody’s going to have another year of high school baseball.
“I’m really looking forward to recruiting a couple more.”
