Concordia Head Coach Mike Grahovac Manages Prestigious Alaska Goldpanners To ABL Championship Game

Concordia Irvine Athletics

Concordia Head Coach Mike Grahovac Manages Prestigious Alaska Goldpanners To ABL Championship Game

Jul 28 | 12:00 AM

Brian Gaul

His squad is rolling along, with a 21-8 ABL record and American League Title, and will face the Mat-Su Miners this week in the Top of the World Series to determine the ABL Champion.

The Panners were recently featured in a story by the Peninsula Clarion

Listening to Alaska Goldpanners manager Mike Grahovac talk after his team's 13-10 Sunday victory over the Peninsula Oilers at Coral Seymour Memorial Park, it was hard not to think back to the Oilers squad of 2011.

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Concordia sixth-year head coach Mike Grahovac is set to spend his 2014 summer as the head coach of the famed Alaska Goldpanners of Fairbanks. The Goldpanners have won 16 Alaska Baseball League Championships.

The Alaska Goldpanners of Fairbanks are a collegiate summer baseball team which was founded in 1960 as an independent barnstorming team. The Pan-Alaska Goldpanners were charter members of the Alaska Baseball League at the league's inception in 1974. The Goldpanners play their home games at Growden Memorial Park in Fairbanks, Alaska. They also host the annual Midnight Sun Game at their home venue.

"It's going to be an exciting time, it's going to be fun for the players, as we only get four days off the whole season," Grahovac said. "It's a good experience for these guys who want to play pro ball and advance their careers."

Like other amateur collegiate summer baseball teams, the Goldpanners operate in a similar manner to professional minor league teams: playing a nightly schedule, using wooden bats, and bus travel between games. To maintain their amateur status and NCAA eligibility, they are not paid and live with host families.

Grahovac has worked with the club twice previously, as a catcher in 1988 and as the pitching coach in 1996. The Alaska Baseball League (ABL) is an amateur collegiate summer baseball league. Players in the league must have attended one year of college and must have one year of NCAA eligibility remaining.

The ABL season begins for the Goldpanners on June 10th, as they travel to play the Anchorage Bucs. Grahovac will be coaching 12 NCAA Division I athletes.

The Midnight Sun Game, held at Growden Memorial Park in Fairbanks on the longest day of each year, is one of the highlights of the Alaska Baseball League season.

First held in 1906, the annual Midnight Sun Game is held yearly in Fairbanks, Alaska and hosted by the Goldpanners. The game, which begins at 10:30 PM on the night of the summer solstice, has gained the attention of international media.

"The game is a fun experience. It's a tourist attraction with a packed crowd," Grahovac said. "It's a big thing for the players and the Fairbanks community."

Baseball America declared the game one of the "10 Must-See Baseball Events." In 2005, ESPN spotlighted the game during "50 States in 50 Days." ESPN The Magazine called the event the "#8 Ultimate Baseball Experience." The Sporting News declared that on the 21st of June, "Fairbanks is the Baseball Capitol of America". In 2012, Yankees Magazine declared the game "Baseball's Most Natural Promotion".

Goldpanners Notable alumni