PALMER — On a night when Kenai starter Scott Snodgress could do anything but find the strike zone, Mat-su Miners ace R.L. Eisenbach was in total control.

Eisenbach buckled down after giving up a first inning home run to strike out eight Kenai Peninsula Oilers (8-10 Alaska Baseball League, 11-12 overall) over six innings to lead the Miners (14-6, 16-6) to a 12-2 rout Monday at Hermon Brothers Field.

The gametime temperature was a balmy 78 degrees and the Kenai bats looked to start just as hot, as Oiler’s first baseman Shayne Wilson slammed the Eisenbach offering over the 351-foot sign in left field.

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“It was a three and one count,” said Eisenbach. “I’m really trying to work on location this summer and not walk guys. So it was like, ‘here it is, let’s see how far you can hit it.’ And obviously he hit it pretty far.”

But as quickly as the bats started for the Oilers, Eisenbach cooled them down.

“I thought he really hung in there,” Miners head coach Russel Raley said about his started. “He got behind some guys early. We wanted to work on him getting his fastball over earlier in the game. But anytime you strike out eight guys over six innings and scatter four hits, it’s pretty good.”

The Miner’s scored three runs in the second inning to claim the lead for good. After catcher Shayne Brown was hit by a pitch the Miners had consecutive singles from Nick Cox and Jonathan Cisneros, which scored Brown. Snodgress then walked Chad Marshall to bring up Nick Croce, who blooped a two-RBI single to left field.  

In the bottom of the third Inning, Snodgress walked Jake Ramesy, then retired the next two batters and was one strike away from escaping the inning without any damage before he hit center fielder Nick Cox. Ramsey then went on to throw a wild pitch and walk three consecutive batters, allowing the Miners to score a pair of two-out runs and force the Oilers to turn to their bullpen.

Snodgress uncharacteristically walked five batters over the game, a lack of control that surprised Raley.

“I would venture to say he is one of the best pitchers in the league,” Raley said. “The game plan was to go in there and be aggressive. You look at his stats and he wants to strike a lot of guys out. You want to get your swing in early. I guess he just didn’t have it today.”

With the Miners leading 5-1, Eisenbach had more than enough support to shut down the Oilers lineup while improving to 4-0 on the season.  

“The run support takes a lot of pressure off,” Eisenbach said. “They’ve been hitting the ball really well lately. I understand that a lot of times guys aren’t going to be having their best days, but with this team it seems like they’re on all the time.”

The Miners bats added five more funs in the fifth inning and two in the eighth to close out the rout.  

Relieving Eisenbach was Owen Dew, who gave up a single Oiler run over two innings, and then former Palmer High School standout Mike Carlson pitched a 1-2-3 ninth to close out the game.  

The league-leading Miners will face off again against the Oilers tonight at 7 p.m. at Hermon Brothers Field.