Alright Fairbanks sports fans, now that the Nanooks' collegiate sports season is over, high schools going down to the wire in their seasonal sports, and the Grizzlies' inaugural season convincingly over, we can now move our focus to a sport that many people in the lower 48 (including Canada) that think it does not exist in this state...amateur baseball.
Two of Fairbanks' home teams, Alaska Goldpanners and the Athletes in Action Fire, are in the six-team Alaska Baseball League, which the season will begin its season schedule on June 9th. But before all that happens, the Goldpanners, under second-year manager Tim Gloyd, will have his players out for their spring training down in Anchorage June 10th-12th. They will start their season in Anchorage June 14th against the Bucs, and June 15th against the Glacier Pilots. Both games will be played at Mulcahy Stadium.
The Fire, under Mike Gillespie (not the one who guided the USC Trojans to the 1998 College World Series championship), are the defending ABL champions. They will begin their season also in the southcentral Alaska area from June 17th-21st with five games against three different teams. They will play the Glacier Pilots (17th and 20th, 7 pm), the Bucs (19th and 21st, 7 pm) and the Mat-Su Miners on June 18th at 7 pm. The game with the Miners will be held at Hermon Brothers Field in Palmer.
The Goldpanners' home opener will be on June 18th against the Fairbanks All-Stars team at 7 pm; the Fire's home opener will be against the Goldpanners on June 23rd, which will be part of a five-game series that will run thru the 27th. The remaining three games will be Goldpanner home games.
The ABL season will conclude on August 1st.
More on the Goldpanners, Fire, and the rest of the Alaska Baseball League later this week.
~Lorenzo
