Miners surrender lead late, fall to Chinooks 3-2
A two-run eighth inning put the Chinooks on top against the Miners
Chugiak-Eagle River Chinooks outfielder JD Wolff drove in the tying and go-ahead runs in the top of the eighth to give the Chinooks a 3-2 victory over the Mat-Su Miners Wednesday night at Hermon Brothers Field.
Two of the three runs for the Chinooks reached on errors committed by the Miners middle infielders. Mat-Su finished the game with four errors, all in the infield.
Regarding the errors, Miners head coach Tyler LeBrun said, "Our field plays a little different, we've got to attack. Can't let the ball play you here, you've got to be defensive and go get it. We're working on things and I think we'll get there."
In the bottom of the ninth, the Miners had the tying run on second after Will Godfrey led the inning off with a double. Kash Millar, the pinch runner for Godfrey, got sent home on a ball hit to right field. The Chinooks outfielder Kai Butler made the throw in plenty of time for the second out of the inning. LeBrun said the decision comes from having minimal chances throughout the ballgame.
"I trust [Jackson Jarvis] over there at third, and I mean he's got to make a good throw and he did, so you tip your cap," said LeBrun. "We did not do the little things well tonight. We kicked the ball around again defensively, we put a lot of pressure on our pitching staff and just didn't execute when we needed to."
The Miners Starting pitcher, Colin Roos, threw 6 1/3 innings giving up one unearned run on five hits with one walk and seven strikeouts.
"He looked really good, I was impressed, he threw a lot of strikes today," said LeBrun. "He's been working on getting some 0-2 swings and misses and I thought he did a really good job."
Mat-Su took a 1-0 lead in the first after Diesel Toth's RBI-sacrifice fly scored Austin Park. The second and final run for the Miners came in the fifth from Matt Bline's RBI-single to drive in Tyler Akers.
Next up, the Miners head to Anchorage to take on the Glacier Pilots for the first time this season. First pitch is scheduled for 6 p.m. at Mulcahy Stadium. You can stream the game on the Mat-Su Miners YouTube channel.
Kaden Bessent
2026 Mat-Su Miners Broadcaster