Miners Score Another Tight Road Win

At the beginning of the month, Mat-Su scored at least ten runs in three out of four games, culminating in a 10-4 victory over Peninsula on the Fourth of July. At that point, it looked as though the explosive, game-wrecking offense that the Miners had displayed during their 4-1 start was finally back, this time to stay. Instead, that win would be, to date, the last time Mat-Su scored more than four runs in a game, let alone ten.

And yet, it's hard to argue that what the team has done lately isn't at least just as impressive.

The Miners pulled out a 4-3 road win over the Chugiak-Eagle River Chinooks on Thursday in the final of four straight road games. The win was their third straight, meaning the traditional poor road team managed to go 3-1 during that slate away from Palmer. The more impressive thing than that, in my opinion at least, is how they got those wins.

Each was by exactly one run, and required an incredible amount of grit and determination to pull out. In the first, Mat-Su scored immediately and had to defend the lead for the rest of the game. In the second, it was the opposite, with the Miners breaking a scoreless tie in the sudden-death 11^th to walk off in an opposing team's ballpark. The final win, then, was something in between.

Like on Monday, the Miners jumped out to the lead, but this time they had to wait for a chance to strike. Chinooks starter Frankie Gulko struck out six of the first seven batters he saw, with only the red-hot Chase Wilcox tagging him for a single. In the third inning, though, Mat-Su got its chance.

Catcher Blake Balsz (a name to remember) drew a leadoff walk in the frame, and Ryker Schow promptly followed his lead. Leadoff man Drake Kerr laid down one of five Mat-Su sacrifice bunts on the night which advanced the duo into scoring position, and Wilcox, in just his second at-bat since his game-winning double on Wednesday, made it three straight with a hit and drove Balsz home.

This time, however, it wouldn't take long for the tenor of the game to drastically change. In the bottom of that inning, Miners starter Rocco Bernadina, who had been perfect through two, allowed a leadoff single to Chinooks catcher RJ Rickabaugh. He got two quick outs after that, but the Chinooks' bats suddenly came to life with two down in the inning. A walk and wild pitch put two men in scoring position, one of whom promptly scored on an Oliver Degenhardt RBI single. The other, along with Degenhardt himself, would soon follow on a two-run Jordan Jaffe single, which got the home team out to a 3-1 lead and riled up the raucous Chugiak crowd, oblivious to the fact that he would be the last Chinook they would see score.

To complete the comeback, Mat-Su had to play the long game. Its first chance would come two innings later, after a two-out Kyle McCausland double provided another needed spark. First baseman Christian Perez, who had been hitless since July 8, ended his slump with a critical single that gave the speedy McCausland a ride home and effectively ended Gulko's day.

In the seventh, with reliever Gavin Alveti (0-1) on the mound, Schow reached on an error. Kerr followed that with a single, Wilcox advanced the pair of runners with a ground out, and Schow got thrown out at home on a McCausland fielder's choice. When the dust settled, no runs had come in, but there were runners on the corners with one out and Perez at the plate. Chinooks manager Tim Cole made the bold decision to intentionally walk Perez to load the bases and bring up second baseman Dom Patrizi, who was 0-3 at the time, in the hopes that he would continue his hitless day. To be fair, he did, but Alveti walked him to drive in a run and tie the game before forcing Mat-Su to leave the bases loaded.

Finally, the winning run came in the ninth. After a scoreless effort by seldom-used reliever Ashton Johnson (1-1) gifted the Miners a chance to take the lead, Mat-Su cashed in. Perez smacked his second hit of the day to lead the frame off before speedy infielder Nick Bisaccia, who scored the winning run against the Bucs on Wednesday, replaced him on the basepaths. Bisaccia made it to third on a sacrifice bunt and Brandyn Durand single, Ryan Cochran walked, and a hopelessly gassed Alveti let Balsz single in the deciding tally. In the bottom half of the frame, Miners closer Drew Koenen continued to make close finishes a formality with his sixth save of the season.

The three straight one-run road victories boost the Miners to 15-13, now just one game back of the Peninsula Oilers, who themselves concurrently fell in a one-run finish to the Bucs. That home matchup between the two teams vying for second place in the ABL looms large, but first, Mat-Su will continue its fight with Chugiak-Eagle River.

The Miners return to Hermon Brothers Field for a pair of seven-inning contests against the Chinooks on Friday. To watch, head to the ballpark or tune in to the Mat-Su Miners' YouTube channel!

Charlie Fellows, 2024 Broadcaster
Mat-Su Miners