The Anchorage Glacier Pilots are headed to the Top of the World Series after a walkoff single carried them to a series sweep of the Chugiak Chinooks on Saturday.
They’ll face the winner of a 4 p.m. Sunday game between the Anchorage Bucs and Mat-Su Miners at Hermon Brothers Field in Palmer. The Bucs threw a two-hitter Saturday to beat the Miners 4-1 and force a third game in their best-of-3 Alaska Baseball League playoff series.
The Pilots won dramatically when Nick Hagedorn’s nine-pitch at-bat ended with a game-winning single at Lee Jordan Field in Chugiak. Scoring from second base was Michael McNamara, who reached on a fielders choice and advanced on a stolen base.
Pilots reliever William St. Marseille earned the victory by retiring all four of the batters he faced, the last two by strikeout.
The Pilots won the first game of the series 4-1 Friday.
In Palmer, four Bucs pitchers limited Mat-Su to two hits to bounce back from a 5-4 loss on Friday.
Darwin Matos gave up one hit and worked his way around seven walks in six innings, and relievers David Christie, Alex Reelfs and Zach Heaton each pitched one inning of shutout ball for the Bucs.
Jack Machtolf’s two-run double and Diego Baqueiro’s RBI single keyed a three-run third inning for the Bucs. The Miners scored their only run on a fifth-inning sacrifice fly.
The winners of Sunday’s rubber match will take on the Pilots in the three-game Top of the World Series beginning Monday. If the Miners win, the series will be at Hermon Brothers. If the Bucs win, it will be at Mulcahy Stadium in Anchorage.