It was moving day at the 74th American Legion baseball state tournament on Tuesday.

The top four teams moved on to Wednesday’s semifinals at Mulcahy Stadium, while the other four will have to move on to something else after seeing their season end.

Service lost its final pool play game but wound up winning the Alyeska Pool via a tiebreaker, while Kenai finished the Denali Pool 3-0 and remain the tournament’s only unbeaten team as the state playoffs shift to single elimination.

The last day of pool play on Tuesday packed a punch as three home runs were hit, two-time defending state champion Service had its three-year, 12-game playoff winning streak snapped and top-seeded Auke Bay exited stage left after being eliminated.

American Legion Baseball

74th State Tournament
At Mulcahy Stadium
Denali Pool
3-0 Kenai
2-1 Palmer
1-2 Auke Bay
0-3 Ketchikan
Alyeska Pool
*2-1 Service
*2-1 Wasilla
2-1 Chugiak
0-2 South
*Won tiebreaker
Tuesday
Palmer 11, Ketchikan 5
Wasilla 7, South 4
Chugiak 5, Service 1
Kenai 13, Auke Bay 3
Wednesday
Semifinals
1:00pm Palmer (14-13) vs. Service (16-9)
4:00pm Wasilla (12-16) vs. Kenai (22-8)
Thursday
Title Game
1:00pm Semifinal winners

Chugiak 5, Service 1

It was a good news, bad news situation for the Chugiak Mustangs on Tuesday.

Post 33 played arguably its finest game of the season in beating second-seeded Service 5-1 on the final day of pool play, but then they lost a paper tiebreaker that saw their season come to a close, despite going 2-1 in pool play.

The tiebreaker was fewest runs between tied teams, and the Mustangs lost by a single run.

Weston Gracey belted a two-run home run to left field and starter Cole Lux dominated on the mound and picked up his state-best 70th strikeout of the summer.

Lux finished with seven Ks and worked around two hits and five walks. The only run he surrendered was on a sac fly.

The Mustangs also got a 3-for-4 day out of Sampson Young, who scolded the ball in each of his four at-bats. the only out he made was a liner to left field.

Pace Newkirk and Sullivan Sims went 2-for-4 for the Mustangs, who played flaw defense and got great pitching out of Lux and reliever Jeremiah Haas to snap Service’s 12-game state playoff winning streak – the second-longest undefeated run in Alaska postseason history.

The record is 14 set by Eagle River during its three-peat in 2021, 2022 and 2023.

Chugiak 000 320 0 – 5 9 0
Service 000 100 0 – 1 3 1
Chugiak – Lux, Haas (7) and Young. Service – Cleppe, Mascelli (5) and Kosaka. 2B – Chugiak: Young. 3B – None. HR – Chugiak: Gracey.

Wasilla 7, South 4

Lalo Palomares was lights out on the mound as the Wasilla Road Warriors shut down the No. 3 seed on Tuesday.

The right-handed starter brushed off a two-run first inning by holding the No. 3 seed to just a pair of runs over the final six frames. He allowed seven hits and one walk while striking out six in his 102-pitch CG.

Camden Mette went 4-for-4 with a double and three RBIs. His two-run, two-bagger put Wasilla ahead 5-2.

With two on and one down in the sixth, Palomares got a strikeout and pop up to end the threat. His pitching was especially important to the Road Warriors, who won a fewest-runs tiebreaker by a single run over Chugiak for a spot to the state semifinals.

Wasilla (12-16) also beat Chugiak on Day 3 of the tournament.

Post 35 also got RBIs from Jacob Johnson and Landon Sherrer, while Ramon Guzman stayed hot after going 2-for-3 with a walk, stolen base and three runs.

South’s Jack Zuspan went 2-for-4 with a double, stolen base, run and RBI. He also pitched the first four innings and got little help behind him as five of the six runs he surrendered were unearned.

The loss ended South’s season.

Wasilla 005 010 1 – 7 8 5
South 201 001 0 – 4 7 2
Wasilla – Palomares and Berta. South – Zuspan, Langerman (5) and Bonin. 2B – Wasilla: Mette. South: Zuspan, Pennington. 3B – None. HR – None.

Palmer 11, Ketchikan 5

Easton Cook was superb out of the bullpen and the Pioneers put up six runs in the fourth inning on Tuesday to help Post 15 advance to the state semifinals for the first time.

Cook pitched 2.2 scoreless innings of relief to hold the Kings in check down the stretch.

Cody Otto, Timothy Bridgman and Nick Betell each drove in two runs, and Bridgman, Betell and Wyatt Beal had two hits.

Trailing 5-2 entering the bottom of the fourth, Palmer rallied to take an 8-5 lead. Otto got the comeback party started with a two-run single, followed by a two-run double by Bridgman that put the Pioneers in the driver’s seat.

Ketchikan banged out 12 hits, including a triple and double by Owen Mendoza, who finished with two RBIs.

Haydn McMahon and Bryant Marquez each went 2-for-3 with a walk and RBI. Rylan Hanchey hit a double.

The loss eliminated the Kings.

Ketchikan 001 400 0 – 5 12 1
Palmer 110 603 x – 11 12 2
Ketchikan – H. Trudeau, Larson (5) and McMahon. Palmer – Combs, Wood (4), Cook (5), Betell (7) and Beal. 2B – Ketchikan: Mendoza, Hanchey. Palmer: Betell, Bridgman, Beal. 3B – Ketchikan: Mendoza. HR – None.

Kenai 13, Auke Bay 3

The Twins flexed their strength behind their murderers’ row of Matthew Schilling, Jayden Stuyvesant and Jacob Joanis, who combined for 11 RBIs on Tuesday.

Schilling went 3-for-5 with five RBIs, highlighted by his three-run inside-the-park home run to deep center field. It was his third homer of the summer, but his first not hit over the fence.

Stuyvesant stayed hotter than a firecracker, going 4-for-5 with four RBIs. The fab first baseman is now 9-for-12 at the plate with 10 RBIs in three games at the state tournament.

Joanis, the state’s home run leader with five, went 2-for-5 with two RBIs.

Kenai relief pitcher Dominic Smith threw five innings, allowing four hits and one run.

Auke Bay’s Marcus Mendoza hit a home run in the seventh inning and Isaac Kirsch went 2-for-2.

The top-seeded Midnight Suns saw its season come to an end after going 1-2 at the state tournament.

Kenai 413 023 – 13 12 0
Auke Bay 200 001 – 3 6 3
Kenai – Joanis, Smith (2) and Koetitz. Auke Bay – Carte, Kirsch (3), Mar. Mendoza (4) and N. Fick. 2B – None. 3B – None. HR – Kenai: Schilling. Auke Bay: Mar. Mendoza.