Miners Fall in Second Straight Blowout Loss

With the Mat-Su Miners dropping Tuesday's game to the Anchorage Bucs, coupled with an Anchorage win over the Chugiak-Eagle River Chinooks on Wednesday, both the combatants in Thursday's contest were officially locked into their playoff spots. The Bucs clinched the ABL's top seed, with the Miners locked into a respectful second.

That is to say, the following had no direct implications on Mat-Su's playoff standing. This is important to lead with, since it is a welcome silver lining to an otherwise dreary evening.

The Bucs defeated the Miners 15-6 at Hermon Brothers Field on Thursday to seal the season series against Mat-Su, 6-4. The win ended Anchorage's regular season and gave them a winning streak to take into this weekend's postseason, while the Miners strayed just a bit further from the 11-game winning streak they lost a game ago.

The game started off grim and stayed that way. Aidan Dolinsky (1-1) surrendered four two-out runs in the opening frame off a trio of RBI base hits. The righty out of NYU would surrender two runs in the second and three in the third before exiting the game.

On the other side, Eli Lipinski (1-0) also stumbled out of the gate. Ryan Richard (remember the name) notched an RBI single to drive Chase Wilcox home to get the Miner deficit to two, but that would unfortunately be the lowest it would get.

The Bucs continued to pour it on against Nolan Murphy in the fourth, driving their score total to nine, but it would remain there for a few innings after Murphy, Ben DeTaeye, Luke Smith, and even Richard combined for three scoreless innings. Meanwhile, Logan Vaughan managed an RBI hit in the fourth and Mat-Su began the sixth against reliever Eduardo Torres with a trio of doubles, scoring two more.

Functionally, though, the game was over after the first couple innings. The end was an amusing hodgepodge of position players giving up ultimately meaningless hits (shoutout to Kyle McCausland, who attempted to blow by the ABL's top hitter and nearly got taken deep on three separate occasions but still only allowed three runs) that put the finishing touches on a 15-6 shellacking.

While Mat-Su has nothing directly to play for until playoff time, Friday's doubleheader against the Chugiak-Eagle River Chinooks is a prime chance to grab some momentum back.

Game 1 starts at 4:00 AKDT, so head to the ballpark or tune in to the Mat-Su Miners' YouTube channel!

Charlie Fellows, 2024 Broadcaster
Mat-Su Miners