Defending champion South needed a ninth-inning rally to win its first-round game at the American Legion state baseball tournament Tuesday at Mulcahy Stadium.
The Wolverines scored twice in the bottom of the ninth to beat Kenai 4-3 and advance to the winner's bracket along with Juneau, the Valley and Chugiak.
Parker Johnson hit a two-out, bases-loaded single to drive in the winning run in the Wolverines' 4-3 win over Kenai.
The victory wasn't pretty. South committed five errors and was scoreless through six innings.
Tommy Koloski made up for his two errors by striking out 10 and stealing three bases, an effort that included a seventh-inning steal of home plate that gave South its first run.
South, which is seeded second in the eight-team tournament, stole six bases in all, with Sladen Mohl furnishing two.
In other games, Juneau claimed a 5-3 win over Fairbanks Post 11, the Valley shut out Dimond 3-0 and Chugiak took a 6-0 win over Fairbanks Post 30.
Kenai, the No. 6 seed, jumped to a 3-0 lead, scoring on a Jason Sonnen sacrifice fly in the second inning and turning two South errors into a pair of runs in the fifth inning.
South came back with two runs in the seventh inning. Then in the ninth, the Wolverines cashed in on Kenai's only error to win the game with two unearned runs.
Mohl started South's last-inning rally by singling and stealing second. With two out, Lian Lincoln reached on an error by shortstop Sonne that sent Mohl home and Lincoln to second base.
Max Costello was hit by a pitch and Jonny Homza walked to load the bases for Johnson, whose single drove in Lincoln and ended the game.
In its win over seventh-seeded Fairbanks, leadoff batter Matt Cunningham scored twice and was 1 for 3 for second-seeded Juneau.
Nathan Klein pitched a complete game for the winners, allowing three hits, walking six and striking out 11.
Stash Skorulski led Fairbanks with a 2-for-4 effort at the plate that included an RBI.
The fifth-seeded Valley team got a big game from Dalton McHugill in its win over fourth-seeded Dimond.
McHugill threw a two-hitter and struck out eight in a complete-game pitching performance, and he drove in a run in the Valley's two-run third inning.
Buddy Dale was 3 for 5 and scored on Cooper McLaughlin's single in the second inning to give the Valley a 1-0 lead. The Valley made it 3-0 the next inning with consecutive RBI singles by Blake Marks and McHugill.
In the day's final game, top-seeded Chugiak belted 15 hits. Eighth-seeded Fairbanks managed seven hits but stranded 11 baserunners.
Among Chugiak's hits were triples by Vander Lekites and Jakub Kindred, who each had two hits and scored twice. Charlie Bucolo led Chugiak's offensive attack with three hits.
Blake Kutch struck out eight, walked three and scattered five hits to get the win.
American Legion
State baseball tournament
Mulcahy Stadium
Tuesday's results
South 4, Kenai 3
Juneau 5, Fairbanks #11 3
Valley 3, Dimond 0
Chugiak 6, Fairbanks #30 0
Wednesday's games
9 a.m. – Kenai vs. Fairbanks #11
Noon – Dimond vs. Fairbanks #30
3:15 p.m. – South vs. Juneau
6:30 p.m. – Valley vs. Chugiak