An exhausted Alex Trieweiler pulls himself up after his head-first dive to first base came up short for the last out in the bottom of the 14th inning of Saturday's State Championship game in Fairbanks.

The Mariners played baseball like they never wanted the season to end.

But Saturday, after 14 innings and four-and-a-half hours of gut-wrenching play at a damp Growden Memorial Field in Fairbanks, a gritty squad from Sitka beat Homer 9-6 in the longest Alaska championship baseball game ever.

"Both teams wanted it really bad," said an exhausted Mariner Head Coach Lary Kuhns after the game.

"I feel bad for the boys. They left their guts and hearts on the field."

The Mariners second-place finish was the best ever for the program. It was also the first state championship game for any Homer team at the 4A level.

The Mariners advanced to state with a 15-1 record and a thrilling 8-7 victory over the defending state champion Kodiak Bears May 28 in the Southcentral Conference title game.

They moved to the state championship game by dominating West Valley 12-0 Friday in Fairbanks.

The tournament was hampered by thunderstorms in the Fairbanks area all weekend. But after a one-hour rain delay and a scoreless first inning and a half, Mariner senior Aaron Gilbert hit a lightening bolt of his own, sending his second three-run home run of the tournament over the left field fence to give Homer a 3-0 lead.

A large Mariner crowd at the field — and thousands listening on the radio in Homer — cheered on starting M's pitcher, John Taylor, and a sound Mariner defense as they shut down Sitka in the top of the third and added another run in the bottom of the inning playing small ball to perfection.

Scotty Owen was hit by a pitch, stole second and moved to third on a passed ball.

Two batters later, Luke Gilbert struck out, but the Sitka catcher dropped the ball and overthrew first base on the play allowing Owen to score.

But Sitka played tougher than many of the teams the Mariners steamrolled this season.

Luke Gilbert hurls a pitch to a batter from West Valley during Friday's semi-final game. The Mariners beat the Wolfpack 12-0 to advance to the first baseball title game in school history.

The Wolves tied the game in the fourth as Matt Way led off with a double and Tom Stonebreaker, Van Hanson and Bryn Calhoun each got hits.

With the score 4-2, Erik Buggins came to the plate with two outs and hit a deep fly ball to center field that bounced out of Mariner Casey Siekaniec's glove allowing two runs to score.

In the bottom of the sixth inning, Mariner Joe Szajkowski got a hit off Way, Sitka's second pitcher of the game. Szajkowski moved to second on a balk by Way and to third on a sacrifice bunt by Justin Adams.

Owen then hit a grounder to the Sitka short stop, who threw the ball over the head of the first baseman to score Szajkowski and give the Mariners a 5-4 lead.

The Mariners needed only three outs to win the championship, but Sitka's E.B Crow hit a lead-off triple off the Mariner's second pitcher, Luke Gilbert.

Crow scored the tying run when Kevin Conway hit a single and Conway scored the go-ahead run off a single by Stonebreaker.

Sitka got two of the three outs it needed to win the game in the bottom of the seventh on a strike out by its third pitcher in the game Chance Allen, and a fielder's choice that left Owen on first base. But Owen stole second, and with two outs, Luke Gilbert stepped to the plate as the Mariners' last chance and hit a clutch two-strike single that scored Owen from second and tied the game 6-6 after seven innings.

An injured Travis Brown and his teammates donned rally caps during extra innings, hoping to spark a winning rally.

In the extra innings both teams had opportunities to score, but defense and a wicked breaking ball by Allen for Sitka left the Mariner batters shaking their collective heads at the plate.

"It just kept going and going," said Mariner catcher Alex Trieweiler. "It was like a bad dream that you couldn't stop."

The Mariners' best scoring opportunities came in the eighth and ninth innings when they moved runners to third base, just 90-feet from the championship.

But they couldn't find the base hit they needed for the win.

Mariner Casey Siekaniec came in to pitch in the 10th inning and more than made up for the bobble in center field by striking out three through four scoreless innings.

But in the top of the 14th inning, as a dark cloud moved over the field and a stiff wind began to blow, Sitka mustered a rally.

Chance hit a double and moved to third when Calhoun beat out Trieweiler's throw to first on a bunt.

Sean Wathen then hit a single that slipped through Aaron Gilbert's legs in left field and scored Chance and Calhoun.

Crow would score Wathen on a sacrifice fly ball to give Sitka a 9-6 lead going into the bottom of the 14th inning.

Allen forced Mariner designated hitter Johnny Watre into a grounder for the first out, before Owen hit a single and moved to second on a stolen base.

Taylor popped out and Luke Gilbert reached first on an error by the Sitka short stop.

With runners on first and third with two outs, Trieweiler hit a ball sharply to second base, but his headfirst dive to first could not beat the throw for the final out of the game.

"I think the hardest part was we went into it with a lot of expectations," said Trieweiler. "The players had expectations and other people too. It was everyone's loss."

The heartbreaker was tempered somewhat by winning both the Sportsmanship Award and the Academic Award with the highest team grade point average in the tournament.

Johnny Watre slaps a single to right field as Sitka coaches and players watched from the dugout.

Aaron and Luke Gilbert and Alex Trieweiler also won first team tournament honors and Aaron Gilbert was named player of the game.

Kuhns said he'll miss Aaron, Alex and the other seniors on the team and the camaraderie the team developed over the years.

And in a championship game that was as long as a double header, and where one call or one play could have made the difference, Kuhns knew the game would linger in his and many of the players' memories.

"It's just a game, but it's full of life lessons," Kuhns said. "That's why I love baseball."

"I feel we were the best team on the field and I'm sure the Sitka folks think they're the best team.

"Unfortunately, we do keep score in this game."

Ben Stuart can be reached at ben.stuart@homernews.com.