Birthday boy Rilen Niclai comes up big as Service dethrones Eagle River to claim American Legion state title

Rilen Niclai couldn’t have asked for a sweeter 16th birthday present than the all-around stellar performance he put together on Thursday evening at Mulcahy Stadium.

The rising junior and do-it-all playmaker helped propel the Post 28 Service baseball team to an 8-5 victory over Eagle River in the Alaska American Legion state championship game. In doing so, he not only played a large part in snapping Service’s 20-plus-year legion title drought but took down the three-time defending champions in the process.

“It felt good just seeing people in the crowd cheering after every inning. It was just amazing,” Niclai said after the crowd behind his dugout sang happy birthday to him in unison prior to the award ceremony.

The year has been one of slaying giants and exorcising past demons for the Cougars as they swept long-time rival South in the high school season on the way to finishing undefeated and capturing a state championship in early June. Service’s supremacy didn’t stop as they went undefeated in league play during the Legion season as well.

“It’s been a long time coming,” Service head coach Willie Paul said. “We’ve been in a lot of these games, so to finally pull one through feels good. All the guys are excited.”

His team’s mentality all spring and summer was “this could be your last game.” Paul said that sweeping both Alaska baseball state titles is a “huge” confidence booster as they head into the Northwest Regional tournament down in Billings, Montana, next week.

“We’re pumped just for the ability to hang out one more time, have a good road trip,” Paul said. “These guys are great to be around, and Alaska teams haven’t always had so much success down there, so we’re excited to see what we can do.”

Unlike last year’s state tournament, Niclai and the Cougars didn’t have his brother and two-time reigning Alaska Gatorade Player of the Year Coen on the team. He opted to forgo his last summer of legion baseball to prepare for the MLB Draft.

“He was a big part but I knew I had to back him up and do it myself,” Rilen Niclai said.

While big brother went on to get drafted in the 15th round by the Miami Marlins, little brother stepped up and out of Coen’s shadow to establish his own legacy this summer.

“I go home every day and talk about it and he just tells me before every game, ‘Let’s go work,’” Rilen Niclai said.

[Anchorage’s Coen Niclai lands with the Miami Marlins in 15th round of MLB draft]

Although Coen Niclai couldn’t suit up with him one last time before heading off to college at the University of Oregon in a few weeks, he was still in attendance. The Division I-bound star catcher watched the game intensely from the stands behind home plate and played the role of supportive sibling instead of ringer for the first time in a while.

“After every pitch and every strike out, I looked back there and he was cheering for me and that made me feel good,” Niclai said.

Niclai didn’t enter the game as a pitcher until the top of the fifth inning and went on to record seven strikeouts while only allowing one hit and no runs. At bat, he logged two hits and an RBI double and scored a run as well on his way to earning Player of the Game and tournament MVP honors.

“He has been clutch all year for us,” Paul said. “We’ve seen him since he was an eighth-grader, and he’s been following in his brother’s footsteps. Even when he was coming and just working out with us, you could see that big things were ahead for him and I think he is only going to continue getting better over the next two years.”

Niclai was dripping with swagger on the mound, celebrating each strikeout with either a shoulder shimmy or another gesture expressing his high confidence level as he closed out the game and secured the victory.

The entire Service team fed off the positive energy and vibes he was exuding throughout the game whether he was at the plate or on the mound.

“He always carries himself that way,” Paul said. “He goes out there and he has fun but at the end of the day, he is a competitor and we say all the time that we hate to lose more than we love to win.”

While the end result was what they wanted, it wasn’t smooth sailing for the Cougars from start to finish as they had to dig themselves out of an early 3-0 deficit after two and a half innings.

Instead of panicking because they were in a position they hadn’t been in much of the summer, Service rallied in the bottom of the third inning to pull ahead for good. The win avenged back-to-back years of coming in second to the Wolves for the legion title.

“We were here when most of these guys were sophomores and then again when they were juniors, and now most of them are seniors,” Paul said. “Every once in a while, you’d like to see a bounce go your way, and I feel like finally today we got a couple of those, so it feels good.”