Miners Suffer Tough Loss to Bucs

After a big win on Saturday night against the Peninsula Oilers, the Mat-Su Miners made their way back home with a mission to get back to their winning ways from earlier in the season. However, their task could not have been tougher on Monday, as they met the meat grinder and the best team in the ABL, the Anchorage Bucs.

This game boiled down to 2 sides of the same coin, and that coin was the pitching coin. For the Bucs they leaned early and often on their dynamic starter Zan Rose while Mat-Su would start off with Ryan Harrahill, the Nebraska Cornhusker. The 1st Inning was scoreless, but in the 2nd the fun began. After forcing multiple walks, Anchorage cashed in with an Adam Enyart Single that would score both Riley Hunsaker and Tommy Eisenstat. Mat-Su needed to respond quickly.

Thankfully for the Miners, they are a team that is known for their counterpunches. In the bottom of the inning, Chase Wilcox would answer with an RBI Single to score Kyle Mccausland, who himself was on the heels of his exceptional double earlier in the frame. However, the Bucs have the best offense in the ABL for a reason and in the top of the 3rd, they would once again show why. After a hit-by-pitch, single, and walk Tommy Eisenstat would drive in a run on a SAC Fly with the bases loaded. Thankfully for the Miners, this is the only damage the Bucs could muster.

The 4th Inning went scoreless, but the 5th would become the deciding portion in this game. Eduardo Mendoza had subbed in for Ryan Harrahill in the 4th and managed a solid frame. However, in the 5th things were turned upside down as he would issue a walk, give up a single, and deliver a hit-by-pitch to allow a run to be scored from Will Burns to make the score 4-1. In a desperate situation, Nico Tomasello would come in for Mendoza but would struggle as the Bucs ate his pitches for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Payton Knowles would bring in a run on a walk, and then Adam Enyart would deliver a SAC Fly to bring the score to 6-1. Then a balk from Tomasello would bring in Will Burns to make it a 6-Run ballgame in the blink of an eye. In just 1 frame, the Bucs had put the hammer down.

For the rest of the game, the Bucs were in cruise control and continued to lean heavily on Zan Rose's incredible performance. He would finish with 6.0 IP, 5 Strikeouts, and only 1 Earned Run given up. Rylan Haider would take them most of the rest of the way and hold the Miners to 0 Runs scored in 2.1 IP. The Miners brought in Drew Koenen and Robert Burk III as pitchers in the back half of the game, and while they were solid the offense could never manage to put the team back in position to contend. Anchorage would add 2 more runs in the top of the 9th to put an exclamation point on the victory. To demonstrate just how dominant they were, every single batter reached base in the game for the Bucs and they did not need an extra base hit to drive in any runs in this game. On this day, the Bucs were a wrecking ball.

Despite the tough loss, there are still positives to take away for the Mat-Su Miners. They showed explosivity with 2 Doubles and had solid performances from Drew Koenen and Ryan Harrahill on the bump. Still, they are in need of more polished play to emerge as a contender on the level of the Bucs. Their biggest issue was once again leaving runners in scoring position, which they did numerous times in this game. The Mat-Su offense has great ability, but they have to string together consistency from the box to become truly elite.

While this loss is tough, there is light at the end of the tunnel. Mat-Su just has to find it.

Dylan Simmons, 2024 Broadcaster
Mat-Su Miners