BY DAVID MORSE
For the Star

Members of the Chugiak Post 33 American Legion baseball team will definitely have had their fill of games by the end of this week.

Not only did members of the team’s varsity and junior varsity program take part in the 16th annual Bill Lierman Collegiate Coaches’ Camp held at Mulcahy Stadium last week, they also played a double header in Kenai.

Manager Doug Henie said the experience is beneficial for athletes who strive to take their game to the next level.

After elevating their caliber of play during the clinic, the post 33 squad turned things up and away in sweeping a double header in Kenai.

Relying on near perfect defense, the team posted a pair of wins Sunday.

“The defense really showed up,” said Henie. “They did play some good ball.”

Balen chalked up nine strikeouts in seven innings en route to the team’s 3-2 win in the first game. He gave up a run in the bottom of the seventh, with the Mustangs leading 2-1, before yielding the mound to McCollum in the eighth, and Ty Griffith in the ninth.

Chugiak responded with a run in the eighth, to lead 3-1, with Kenai notching one run off McCollum in the eighth.

“We didn’t have a lot of hits but we scratched out the runs,” said Henie.

McCollum got things going in the fourth, with a one-out double, followed by an error on Tyler Belk’s shot, putting runners on the corner. McCollum scored on a Kenai miscue off the bat of Doug Henie, with Tyler advancing to third, and then scoring on a passed ball.

McCollum and Belk had two hits each, accounting for all four Chugiak hits. Kenai rung up with five errors.

Chugiak put up one run in both the second and third innings during the second game, and then added three insurance runs in the sixth, in the 5-1 seven-inning win for the second game of the doubleheader.

Griffith was huge on the mound, setting the Kenai Twins down in each of the game’s first three innings.

Chugiak finished that game with nine hits, along with one error, while Kenai was shackled with six hits, two errors.

The Kenai mistakes were costly during the Mustangs’ three-run sixth, with Ben Morse getting on by an error, and then advancing to second base on an overthrow from the shortstop. Morse scored on Matt Sullivan’s single. Sullivan stole second. Tobi Morgan followed with a walk, and then was pushed across the plate on a triple by McCollum into the left-center gap, scoring Sullivan and Morgan.

Coach Henie said he thought that his team was a little spent at the end of the second game.

The team has a day, perhaps two, to recover before flying out late Tuesday to take part in the 2009 Spokane-Coeur d’Alene Senior Legion Wood Bat Classic, beginning today Thursday. The tournament has expanded to its largest field of 24 teams.

The Mustangs have been attending the event regularly for the past four seasons.

“We’re hoping to be able to pick up a scrimmage game on Wednesdayas well,” said the coach.

This article published in The Alaska Star on Thursday, July 2, 2009.