Charlie Gillies has kept batters off-balance all season in becoming the Alaska Baseball League's leader in strikeouts.

Nothing changed Wednesday.

Gillies notched eight strikeouts and came within one strike of tossing a complete game, leading the Athletes in Action Fire to a 5-2 ABL victory over the Peninsula Oilers at Coral Seymour Memorial Park.

The South Wolverines advanced to the American Legion state championship with a 6-3 victory Wednesday over Fairbanks at Mulcahy Stadium in Anchorage.

South built a 5-1 lead and held off a late Fairbanks rally. The Wolverines will face either Dimond or Fairbanks in the championship at 2 p.m. Friday at Mulcahy.

Dimond, a 9-1 winner over Wasilla in a loser-out game Wednesday at Mulcahy, faces Fairbanks at noon today for the right to advance.

If the winner of today’s game defeats South on Friday, a second game would be played at 6 p.m. to determine the champion.

The American Legion Twins were eliminated from the state tournament Tuesday in a 9-5 loss to Dimond at Mulcahy Stadium in Anchorage.

The Twins led 3-0 entering the bottom of the fifth inning, 4-2 entering the bottom of the seventh and 5-4 entering the bottom of the eighth, when Dimond finally broke the game open.

Dimond scored five runs against starter AJ Hull and relievers Josiah Covey and Kevin Rowe in the home half of the eighth, sending nine hitters to the plate.

The American Legion Twins will face top-seeded Dimond in an elimination game Tuesday at noon at Mulcahy Stadium in the state tournament.

South, the No. 4 seed, put Dimond into the losers’ bracket Monday with a 12-5 victory. Dimond swept the Twins, the No. 7 seed, in league play this season.

The Twins have to win three more games if they want to reach the championship game.