ABL: Glacier Pilots double up Miners

June 26, 2007

By Jeremiah Bartz/ Frontiersman

ANCHORAGE - The Anchorage Glacier Pilots used a five-run sixth to double-up the Mat-Su Miners 10-5 at Mulcahy Stadium on Monday.

Steve Daniels posted a two-run triple in the sixth, and Luke Yoder and Ben Soignier each hit home runs for the Pilots.

Trailing by seven runs in the seventh, Mat-Su made a late attempt at a comeback.

Mat-Su outfielder Joey August, the hero in the Miners' 5-2 win over the Pilots on Friday, led off the seventh with a mammoth solo shot. The August home run sparked a Mat-Su four-run inning.

Gunner Terhune and Carl Uhl followed the home run with consecutive singles, and each scored on a Chris McMurray double.

McMurray scored later in the inning to cut the score to 8-5.

Seignior hovered in the bottom of the seventh and Yoder posted a run-scoring double in the eighth to add a pair of insurance runs for the Pilots.

Chris Smith earned the win on the mound for Anchorage, and Mat-Su starter Jared Eskew was tagged with the loss.

The Miners fell to 5-2 overall and 3-2 in Alaska Baseball League play with the loss, but still remain just a half-game behind the Peninsula Oilers.

The Oilers dropped their first decision of the season Monday, losing to the Anchorage Bucs 7-1 on the Kenai Peninsula.

Peninsula visits Mat-Su for what potentially could be a key three-game series. The Miners host the Oilers on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday with each game set for 7 p.m.

Anchorage took advantage of a pair of early Mat-Su miscues in the first.

Cody Neer advanced on a past ball and scored on an error to give the Pilots a 2-0 lead. Seignior also had an RBI-single in the first.

August put the Miners on the board in the second with an RBI sacrifice fly that scored designated hitter Ty Rasmussen.

Anchorage broke the game open in the sixth with Daniels' triple.

After Mat-Su reliever Chris Cullen walked Danny Cox and plunked Morgan Wynne with a pitch, Daniels sent a Webster Beal pitch deep into right field.

Daniels scored on an Avery Barnes hit.

Barnes and Yoder also scored in the inning.

August, a Stanford product, has no recorded 4 RBI in his last two games against the Pilots.

On Friday, August used a two-run single to break a 2-2 tie. And on Monday, he added the home run and run-scoring sacrifice fly.

The Mat-Su Miners used four pitchers in the game. Eskew earned the start, but Cullen, Beal and Bryce Morrow were all called out of the pen.

Mat-Su was originally set to play the Glacier Pilots in Anchorage on Sunday afternoon, but the game was called due to rain. Monday's game is the first of seven contests in the next seven nights for Mat-Su.

The Miners host the Alaska Goldpanners tonight at 7 p.m and again on Saturday.

The three-game set against the Oilers runs Wednesday through Friday, and on Sunday the Miners go back to Mulchahy to face the Anchorage Bucs.

Contact Frontiersman sports editor Jeremiah Bartz at sports@frontiersman.com.