Mat-Su Splits Season-Ending Doubleheader

The Miners had nothing directly to play for ahead of Friday's doubleheader against the last-place Chugiak-Eagle River Chinooks, but the games were still important. On Chugiak's side, a doubleheader sweep would vault the team over the Anchorage Glacier Pilots and into the ABL's final playoff spot. The Miners, meanwhile, hoped to end the regular season on a high note. Unfortunately, both of those goals could not coexist, so someone would leave Hermon Brothers Field that day with their ambitions unfulfilled.

Game one began with business as usual for Mat-Su ace Tucker Timmerman, who cut down six of the first seven batters he saw. Just a lone error prevented the Cornhusker from being perfect through two. In the third, a leadoff single and hit-by-pitch made things a bit dicier, but Timmerman still exited his shortened start with a zero in the opponent's run column.

Unfortunately, the same could be said for Mat-Su, courtesy of Chugiak's Nolan Livsey (4-3). The righty continued to blank the Miners until the fourth, but by the time Brandyn Durand crushed a home run to put Mat-Su on the board, Livsey's squad was already in front.

In the top of the fourth, Timmerman gave way to Eduardo Mendoza (0-1), who immediately issued a leadoff walk to begin what would be a rocky outing. A Keaton Laidley triple plated the leadoff runner, and Oliver Degenhardt drove Laidley in with a sacrifice fly to give the Chinooks a 2-0 lead. Durand's blast would cut that advantage in half in the bottom of the frame, but in the fifth, it was more of the same. The second leadoff walk issued by Mendoza led to another fruitful frame for the Chinooks, as a Mendoza wild pitch and Jacob Hayes single gave Chugiak another pair of runs.

That would end the scoring on both sides, as Nico Tomasello entered the game in the sixth and tossed two nearly flawless frames. Meanwhile, Mat-Su's bats struggled to string anything together. Despite outhitting the Chinooks 9-5, defensive mistakes and bad offensive sequencing doomed the Miners to their third straight loss, and prolonged the Chinooks' season for what would ultimately be one final game.

With the second seed sown up and a chance to screw over the defending ABL champs, one could have forgiven Mat-Su for rolling over and allowing the Chinooks a taste of the postseason. However, one Miner making his season debut did not get that memo.

Wasilla High School and Nelson University's Pedro Camacho (1-0) had served as the bullpen catcher for the Miners throughout the season, but had yet to see any official ABL action. Despite primarily serving as a catcher and utility infielder during his high school and college seasons, he was the Miners' starting pitcher for the doubleheader's second game. Not only did Camacho pitch, he pitched outstandingly well. When all was said and done, the Mat-Su Valley native tossed 6.2 scoreless innings. Did he allow a baserunner in every inning? Sure. Did he walk five, allow five hits, and strike out just two? Yes. Was he the benefactor of a few outstanding defensive plays and lucky bounces that likely preserved his shutout? Absolutely. That's baseball, and on Friday, Camacho looked like he belonged in the Alaska Baseball League.

On the other side, the Chinooks fell victim to the Brandyn Durand experience. After his teaser of a solo shot in game one, Durand unleashed his will upon Chugiak in the nightcap, driving in two unearned runs in the third after a rocket glanced off the glove of Chinooks third baseman Louis Zulaica. Durand himself would come around to score on a Ryker Schow single, and added another solo home run in the fifth for good measure. The Massachusetts native finished the season as the ABL's home run champion, crushing five long balls when no one else aside from Cole Carlon even managed four. Four of those home runs came over the course of two days against the Chinooks.

With a 4-0 lead and nothing to play for, Kyle McCausland made his triumphant return to the mound after Camacho had thrown over eighty pitches and walked the bases loaded in the sixth. McCausland navigated out of that jam unscathed, but continued his penchant for allowing runs in the seventh. A pair of singles and some steals led to Chugiak's first run coming in on a sacrifice fly, and Kade Smith came in on a McCausland wild pitch. Still, even through the adversity, the Middlebury attendee coaxed a pair of groundouts from back-to-back Chinooks that each represented the tying run. Not only did McCausland hold on to get the Miners their 24^th and final regular season win, since he entered the game with the tying run at the plate, the outfielder even managed what is almost certainly his first career save.

With the split, the Miners finish the regular season 24-16. Despite finishing second in the ABL after winning the regular season crown last summer, these Miners actually managed a better record than the 24-17 mark their predecessors finished with. The ABL was much more top-heavy this year, and Mat-Su, along with the regular season champion Anchorage Bucs, established themselves as the predators to the Pilots' and Chinooks' prey.

Missing from that analogy are the Peninsula Oilers, whose 16-3 home record would have been easily tops in the ABL. Their 7-14 mark on the road, however, is what they will bring to Herman Brothers Field for the opening round of the 2024 Top of the World Playoffs. Game one of the best-of-three set is Saturday at 4:00 AKDT.

If you can make it to the park, Mat-Su needs all the support it can get, but if not, the Mat-Su Miners' YouTube channel will have all the coverage!

Charlie Fellows, 2024 Broadcaster
Mat-Su Miners