Miners defeat the Chinooks behind strong pitching

Three Mat-Su Miners pitchers combine for 11 strikeouts, five hits, and only one run as they shut down the Chugiak-Eagle River Chinooks 3-1 on Sunday afternoon at Hermon Brothers Field.

Jaxon Baker got the start, his third of the season, and grabbed his first win of the year while striking out seven batters. Baker leads the ABL in strikeouts with 23, which is 12 more than second place. He started the ball game sriking out the first three Chinooks he saw. With runners on base Baker worked efficiently, despite giving up the lone run, he stranded 5 Chinooks on the base paths. 

The three Miners pitchers combined for four innings where they faced the minimum batters and each reliever did so at least once. Brady Clark threw a strong two innings where he only gave up two hits. Auden Pankonin closed the game out for Mat-Su and struck out the side to earn his third save of the year, good for second best in the ABL. 

After falling behind 1-0 in the third inning, the Miners scratched across one run in the fourth, fifth, and sixth innings. Hayzen Inouye led off the fourth with a single into left field and advanced to second immediately after a balk by the Chinooks pitcher Qade Carrington. Jackson Babcock would drive him in with a single of his own. In the fifth, Will Godfrey drew a leadoff walk and advanced to second on Alexander Pearson's sacrifice bunt. A single from Austin Park, who extended his hitting streak to nine games, moved Godfrey to third and Matt Bline knocked the go-ahead run in on a groundout to second. Inouye scored the third and final run after another lead off single into left field. Two passed balls put him 90 feet away until Kanyon Millar's sacrifice fly brought Inouye home. 

Defensively, Mat-Su cleaned up the errors adn only committed one on a pickoff attempt, but that runner did not come around to score. With Chugiak threatening in the seventh with a runner on second, Bline caught a fly ball in center field and gunned down Blake Allen at third to complete an inning-ending 8-5 double play. 

The Miners move to 4-3 on the season, eclipsing a record above .500 for the first time this year and now stand one game out of first place, though they remain behind the Oilers and Chinooks. This win also gave the Miners their first two consecutive wins on the season in league play.

Mat-Su has the chance to get a streak started as they head to Anchorage to take on the fourth place Bucs at Mulcahy Stadium on Monday. First pitch is scheduled for 6 p.m. You can stream the game on the Mat-Su Miners YouTube channel.

Kaden Bessent

Mat-Su Miners 2026 Broadcaster