The Seattle Studs beat the Alaska Goldpanners in Sunday's final at the Kamloops International Baseball Tournament, but the knockout blow came about six hours earlier.

The Studs won the championship game 4-2 in front of about 450 fans at NorBrock Stadium. The title is Seattle's fifth in the last six years and sixth in the last 10.

The Studs were the class of the tournament - again! - winning all six of their games and outscoring their opposition 31-13. Two of those victories came on Sunday against the Fairbanks-based Goldpanners, including a 1-0 thriller in a playoff game earlier in the day.

That victory was the buzz of NorBrock during the final, especially the way it ended - on a triple play.

Seattle manager Barry Aden felt that the triple play, coupled with the fact that the loss forced the Goldpanners to play an extra game Sunday, was a major factor in the final.

"To have us come up with that miraculous play, that's a will-killer is what it is," said Aden, who now has won 11 KIBT titles, eight as a manager. "It probably caused them to question their abilities and whether or not we're a team of destiny."

Because the playoffs were double-knockout, the Goldpanners were able to come back and beat the Bellevue, Wash., Northwest Honkers 10-2 in a second semifinal.

But they wouldn't have needed to play that game had the Studs not pulled off one of the more exciting finishes in KIBT history.

Clinging to a 1-0 lead, the Studs allowed the Goldpanners to load the bases in the top of the seventh inning. The batter flew out to centre-fielder Jett Hart, who threw home to get a runner tagging up from third.

After catcher Garrett Breda tagged that runner out, he gunned the ball to second, catching a confused Goldpanners baserunner in a rundown between second and third. The ensuing out ended the game - the play officially went 8-2-6-5 - and the Studs got to rest and watch the Goldpanners play the Honkers.

"I've never seen anything like it," said Seattle designated hitter Bobby Joe Tannehill, who was 2-for-3 in the final, reaching base four times, scoring a run and driving in another. "It was a scary moment - everybody thought we were going down, but that's the way baseball is sometimes."

After that, Alaska wasn't the same solid team that won its first four games by a combined score of 32-6. In the final, it made three errors and its pitchers - there were six of them in total - walked nine batters.

It wasn't the triple play itself that got the Goldpanners down in the final, said the players. It was the need to play the extra game that did it.

"Three games in a day is pretty tough to do, especially when it was hot most of the day," said Alaska first-baseman Robbie Buller, who led the tournament with nine RBI. "We still battled, and that was a good thing."

In the final, the Studs couldn't push across any runs against Alaska starter Blake Harrison, but feasted on reliever Ryan Thompson in the top of the fourth.

Seattle ended up scoring three runs on two hits, two walks and a hit batsman in the inning, then Tannehill brought in Kyle Conwell with a single in the fifth.

The 4-0 lead was more than enough for Studs starter Kevin Corrigan, who was pitching for only the second time since graduating from Western Oregon University in 2007. His previous start was on July 3 in the Studs' 7-0 victory over the Thurston County, Wash., Senators in the final of Kelowna's Canada Day Blast tournament.

"I was a two-way guy in college, and I've pitched one game since 2007," said Corrigan, a 25-year-old designated hitter/first-baseman who struck out five on Sunday. "I was working on it in the fall, and I've always been decent at it.

"I threw five innings in Kelowna . . . we were low on starters here and they threw me out there again."

Buller brought home two runners with a double down the third-base line in the sixth inning, but Corrigan pitched into the eighth and Sal Arena and tournament MVP Taylor Thompson closed it out from there.

Thompson, who picked up two victories and a save out of the bullpen, was the top pitcher at the 2008 KIBT, which the Studs won.

"This is his sixth year, and he has tremendous numbers," Aden said of his 6-foot-0 sidearm righty. "He's so resilient, he just goes out game after game and his performance never drops off."

EXTRA INNINGS: The Studs earned $9,000 for the victory, while the Goldpanners took home $4,000. . . . Aden was named the tournament's top coach for the seventh time. . . . Each team finished with eight hits. . . . Buller had two of his side's hits, including a single in the bottom of the ninth when the Goldpanners put the tying run on first base before centre-fielder Andy Peterson flew out. . . . Ryan Thompson was tagged with the loss. Alaska's other pitchers were, in order, Brent Clapper, who went 2 1/3 innings, Nick Varriale, Austin Pentecost and Mike Rivera, each of whom pitched a scoreless inning. . . . The one year in the past six that the Studs failed to win this tournament, 2009, they lost to the Goldpanners. . . . The Studs had two players picked off and another caught stealing in the first three innings.

mhunter@kamloopsnews.ca