It only required two hits in the entirety of the game, both in the team’s last at-bat, for the Goldpanners to secure a 2-0 victory over the Sawtooth Sockeyes on Thursday. Well, that and stellar work on the mound.
“I thought they killed it,” assistant coach Carlos Gonzales said of the Goldpanners’ pitchers postgame. “I thought we won that game because of them today.”
After this game, Gonzales will take over as the Goldpanners’ new field manager. This was his second season as Bret Lachemann’s lead assistant. Lachemann is now headed to UC Riverside, where he just accepted a job as a pitching coach.
“I wish Bret good luck with his new job,” Gonzales said. “He loved the city, and now it’s my turn to hopefully win some games with these guys.”
In another sendoff, Treyson Peters started for the Goldpanners in his final game of the summer. He picked up the win (finishing 4-0 this season) after relenting just two hits in five innings on Thursday.
Peters set the tone by turning back his first three batters, two via strikeout. He only allowed five baserunners through the first five innings. However, the Goldpanners didn’t find much more luck at the plate, failing to record a hit for the first seven innings.
The ‘Panners switched pitchers to Brandon Wyland at the top of the sixth inning and then to Paxton Fenberg midway through the top of the seventh, and both upheld the shutout. The Sockeyes went three up, three down against Fenberg in both of his full innings (the eighth and the ninth). Neither Wyland nor Fenberg relented a hit and each walked just one batter in their combined four innings of play.
“After we got those two runs, I knew I could trust my defense and just get outs,” Fenberg said postgame.
It took until the penultimate inning for the Goldpanners’ bats to find any success. Rocco Caballero ignited the offense with a ball slapped just inside the right foul line. As it bounced past the first baseman, Caballero was able to turn his hit into a double. Matt Leiterman then also placed a ball just inside the foul line but much deeper into the outfield. That allowed Caballero to come home for the go-ahead score and Leiterman to dive into third base, putting himself in scoring position.
“We were just fighting, chugging along, and then Leiterman came off the bench and got a pinch hit triple that changed the game,” Gonzales said. “I think us being able to compete late in the game in the second game in the series with three more games to go is a big deal.”
After Hayden Iverson was hit by a pitch, Grant Scholzen put the ball into play.
While he was tagged out, he allowed Leiterman to come home for a 2-0 lead. That was the Goldpanners’ lead heading into the top of the ninth inning.
After Caballero tracked down a ball from the Sockeyes’ first batter of the ninth inning, Fenberg struck out another. Jesse Espinoza then caught a bouncing ball near third base and threw across the field for the final out.
“Paxton came in and shut the door on them,” Gonzales said. “It was huge.”
The Goldpanners are now 16-6-2 on the season, while the Sockeyes are 23-6 following back-to-back losses in Fairbanks. They’ll continue the series at Growden Memorial Park on Saturday, July 12 at 7 p.m.
Contact Gavin Struve at gstruve@newsminer.com or 907-459-7544
