Makai Baylous and Landon Gasser are at vastly different points of their lives with Baylous headed to Colorado State University in the fall and Gasser to South High School.

They shared the same pitching mound Thursday afternoon at Mulcahy Stadium and looked eerily similar as both right-handers put up six scoreless innings in a delightful duel that highlighted Day 1 of the four-day, 16-game Alaska 529 Midseason Classic.

West scored twice in the first inning and then Baylous and an error-free defense made it stand as the Eagles won the Legion game 2-0 over South. Paul Dittrich got the final out with two runners on base in the bottom of the seventh for the save, capping the team’s second shutout of the season.

Baylous blanked Kenai 3-0 on his own three weeks ago, but this time two walks in the seventh and the 105-pitch count forced a call to the bullpen after 6.2 innings. Dittrich got the final out to complete a combined shutout after getting a big lift from his brother Joey.

Joey Dittrich started the game at second base and then replaced his brother at shortstop after Paul was called on to pitch. Joey caught a liner in the hole to end the game, preserving the shutout and quite possibly the win.

Alaska 529 Midseason Classic
At Mulcahy Stadium
Thursday (Day 1 of 4)
Eagle River 10, South 0
West 2, South 0
Napoleon (OH) 10, West 0
Service 13, Dimond 3
Friday (Day 2 of 4)
11:45am Kenai vs Chugiak
2:15pm Kenai vs Service
5:00pm West vs Eagle River
7:30pm South vs Napoleon (OH)

West’s offensive hero was Jack Hazlewood, who delivered a two-out, two-run single in the first inning to provide all the scoring necessary to put the Eagles (8-6, 1-0 Pool A) in the win column.

West leadoff hitter Braden Meissner walked and Paul Dittrich reach base on an error, putting runners at first and second. After a wild pitch put both runners in scoring position, Hazelwood knocked one into left field to plate Meissner and Dittrich.

In the dictionary, if you look up the word resilient you will see a picture of Gasser. The young right-hander bounced back like an upperclassman, striking out the side in the second inning and shutting down the Eagles the rest of the way. The rising freshman worked around a base runner in the third and pitched a 1-2-3 inning in the fourth.

He held West to 1-for-6 hitting with runners in scoring position across the final three frames to collect his complete game.

Meanwhile, Gasser came to the plate with the bases loaded looking to help his own cause. He laced a liner that was caught by second baseman Joey Dittrich, who doubled up the runner at first base for an inning-ending double play.

Baylous needed just 11 pitches to get out of the first inning and picked off a runner in the fourth. His catcher Evan Fitzgerald threw out a runner in the second.

Of the right-hander’s nine strikeouts, many of them came in big spots to end the first, second, third and fifth innings.

South banged out seven hits and routinely put runners in position to score, but couldn’t get the key hit, which led to the Wolverines (7-7, 0-2 Pool A) dropping both games Thursday. They didn’t go down without a fight, though.

In the seventh inning, Evan Baldwin and Mason Theriault drew walks to bring the go-ahead run to the plate.

West 200 000 0 – 2 3 0
South 000 000 0 – 0 7 1
West – Baylous, P. Dittrich (7) and Fitzgerald. South – Gasser and Bonin. SO – Baylous 9, Gasser 6. 2B – None. 3B – None. HR – None.

Napoleon (OH) 10, West 0

Alec Schaublin scattered nine hits in six shutout innings and Kadyn Radzik and Landon Amstutz each had three RBIs as the River Bandits of Napoleon, Ohio, beat the Eagles and improved to 9-0 on their Alaska road trip.

Schaublin worked around trouble every inning as the Eagles got six runners into scoring position but couldn’t break through against the right-hander, who struck out four and induced nine flyballs.

Radzik had three RBIs without the benefit of a base hit while Amstutz went 3-for-3 with a double. Amstutz got the party started in the first inning after he poked a two-out, two-run single to left field. The next batter, Mason Quillin, then knocked in Amstutz, who slid just under the tag after a 7-5-2 relay, to make it 3-0.

The score stayed that way until the fourth inning, thanks to West starter Jack Hazelwood, who tossed back-to-back scoreless frames against a River Bandits team with five .400 hitters.

Once Hazelwood was gone, so was any chance of an upset after Napoleon (24-4, 1-0 Pool A) knocked around the bullpen for four runs in the fourth, two in the fifth and one more in the sixth to trigger the 10-run mercy rule.

Trey Rubinstein’s infield single produced his 29th RBI of the season and a 4-0 lead. That was followed by consecutive sac flies by Radzik and DeLano and an RBI double by Amstutz as the lead swelled to 7-0.

All the while, Schaublin just kept chugging along. He escaped two-on, one-out jams in each of the first and fifth innings and a bases loaded jam in the fourth.

Led by the Dittrich bros, West came out swinging and had base knocks in each of the six innings. Eight-hole hitter Joey Dittrich went 3-for-3 with a double and Paul Dittrich was 2-for-3.

The Eagles (8-7, 1-1 Pool A) also produced some web gems after third baseman Braden Meissner turned a 5-3 double play and right fielder Hazelwood made a diving catch.

West 000 000 – 0 9 1
Napoleon 300 421 – 10 11 9
West – Hazelwood, Gunn (4), Thompson (5) and Fitzgerald. Napoleon – Schaublin and Gendron. SO – Schaublin 5, Hazelwood 1. 2B – Haliburton (W), J. Dittrich (W), Amstutz (N), McQullin (N). 3B – None. HR – None.

Eagle River 10, South 0

Liam Lierman and Dallin Roberts had run-scoring triples and Gage Rose pitched five shutout frames as the Wolves shut out South 10-0 in the first game of the day.

Rose needed just 55 pitches to rack up a quality start, allowing just one hit while walking none and hitting no batters. He had six strikeouts and was sharp early, needing just 20 pitches to record the first seven outs.

Eagle River (13-1, 1-0 Pool A) sent 10 batters to the plate and scored six runs in the top of the fourth inning. Ryan Mullen singled and scored on a balk, Cole Smith had an RBI single, Roberts smacked an RBI triple, Gunner Mountcastle rapped out an RBI single, Jack Mullen hit a sac fly and Brooks Inch singled in another run to make it 9-0.

Lierman’s two-run triple in the third inning one-hopped the wall in right centerfield. Before that, Mountcastle singled and scored on Jack Mullen’s RBI single. Eagle River’s final run came home on Kamden Kurtz’s RBI single.

South banged out two hits, one by Evan Baldwin and another by Peter Cornelius. First baseman Logan Geuss snagged a liner off the bat of Lierman to help reliever Cornelius get out of a base loaded jam in the fifth.

David Feigner took the loss for the Wolverines (7-6, 0-1 Pool A), although the right-hander looked sharp early. He ended a 10-pitch battle against Kurtz with a strikeout and fanned five in four innings, including three in a row during a stretch when he retired five in a row.

Eagle River 102 601 – 10 9 0
South 000 000 – 0 2 2
Eagle River – Rose, Roberts (6) and J. Mullen. South – Feigner, Cornelius (5) and Bonin. SO – Rose 6, Feigner 5, Roberts 1. 2B – None. 3B – Lierman (ER), Roberts (ER). HR – None.

Service 13, Dimond 3

Rilen Nicali went 3-for-4 with a triple to highlight a 16-hit attack that propelled the Cougars to a 13-3 win over Dimond in the nightcap.

Chase Mascelli, Hunter Christian, Andrew Hickman and Kolby Jensen each had two hits on a night when Service battered Lynx pitching for three crooked numbers in five frames.

Christian and Jensen doubled while Mascelli, Christian, Jake Rafferty, Jensen and Landon Martindale each had two RBIs. Martindale, who played catcher, flashed some defense as well by throwing out runners at second base in the first inning and first base in the third inning.

Service will play the entire Legion season without starting catcher Coen Niclai, who is at the MLB Combine. In his place, the Cougars can use Martindale, Mascelli, Jensen or Owen Hickman behind the plate.

Jensen is a fine utility player capable of playing every position on the field. Service (11-3, 1-0 Pool B) is stacked with versality and coming off a semifinal appearance at the Battle of Omaha.

Sebastian Fournier started on the hill and pitched four innings as he worked around six walks.

Dimond’s Colin Doherty took center stage early as he started on the mound and got back-to-back strikeouts to end the first inning with two runners in scoring position. In the bottom of the first, he tripled in a run to spot the Lynx a 1-0 lead. In the second, he picked off a runner.

Carson Engstrom’s RBI groundout gave Dimond (3-11, 0-1 Pool B) a 2-0 lead. Fredy Caetano got his team’s other base knock.

Service 054 04 – 13 16 0
Dimond 200 10 – 3 2 4
Service – Fournier, Mascelli (5) and Martindale. Dimond – Doherty, Dittman (5) and Willis. SO – Fournier 2, Doherty 2, Dittman 2, Mascelli 1. 2B – Jensen (S), Christian (S). 3B – Niclai (S), Doherty (D). HR – None.