Homer’s varsity baseball team traveled to Soldotna to kick off the season with a non-conference game against the Stars on Saturday, April 23. The Stars came out with a 10-6 victory over the Mariners. 

Homer next faces Kodiak in back-to-back conference away games this Friday and Saturday.

“It was a non-conference game and first game of the season so we were trying out some things. We pitched some guys who hadn’t pitched varsity before to give them some experience on the mound,” said Homer head baseball coach Rich Sonnen. “We had three different guys play catcher. We had a few innings when we had a freshman shortstop — just trying a couple things to get some experience before we go down to Kodiak.”

After scoring three runs in the first inning to take the early lead, Soldotna fizzled in the top of the third when Homer had three of their first four base runners score. James Webber started the inning by reaching base on an error, then Landon Bunting nailed a hit and Michael Swoboda got on with a walk.

From there, all three Homer runs scored by error or by walks.

Kyle Johnson hit 2 for 3 and Woape Huffman notched a three-RBI double to lead the Mariners during the seventh inning while the bases were loaded.

However, Soldotna retook the lead with three runs in the bottom of the fourth, and then added three more runs in the bottom of the fifth and one in the sixth.