KHS baseball rallies past Houston

Kodiak’s offense struggled through the first five innings against Houston starter Cole Taylor. The Bears entered the top of the sixth down 4-2. They left the sixth up 10-4. 

And for the second time this season, freshman Jeremy Mahle gave Kodiak the lead for good. His two-run single that scored Damonte Moore Toleda and Landen Alford put Kodiak up 5-4, its first lead since going up 1-0 in the first. 

The Bears didn’t stop there. 

Hunter Williams laced a two-run double and Alford came back around to drive in two on a single. 

Malakai Olson and Alford closed the game on the mound and pushed Kodiak to 7-1 in the SCC, 8-7 overall. 

Olson allowed one hit and struck out five in two innings. Alford needed only one pitch in the seventh to get the final out of the game. 

The umpire crew scheduled for the game didn’t show, which delayed the game for over an hour as people scrambled to locate an available umpire.

When an umpire showed, Kodiak jumped out to a 1-0 lead on a Tyler Christiansen RBI single, the first three hits for the senior.  

The lead didn’t last. 

Houston (2-6 SCC, 2-8 overall)  tagged Kodiak starter Jon Flerchinger for three runs in the first. 

Moore-Toledo’s run-scoring single in the fourth cut Houston’s lead to 3-2. 

The Hawks got that run back in the fifth off Mahle, who relieved Flerchinger in the fourth. 

Flerchinger fanned four, walked two and allowed three hits in 3 1/3 innings. 

Despite the slow start, Kodiak ended with 14 hits — Olson, Moore-Toledo and Alford each had two hits. 

Kodiak closes the regular season with conference games against Grace Christian in Anchorage (4 p.m. today) and at Palmer (10 a.m. Saturday).