ABL veteran leads Miners to win over Chinooks

CHUGIAK — In 2015, Calvin LeBrun was named an Alaska Baseball League All-Star, and finished among league leaders with four wins, 44 strikeouts and a 1.29 earned run average. This year, the Gonzaga lefty is back for his second summer with the Mat-Su Miners. Thursday, LeBrun picked up right where he left off two seasons ago.

LeBrun scattered three hits over seven strong innings, and led the Miners to a 4-1 win over the Chugiak-Eagle River Chinooks at Lee Jordan Field in Chugiak.

“Fantastic start,” Miners head coach Ben Taylor said after the win. “He threw a ton of strikes, he was up tempo, competed really hard.”

LeBrun fanned six in the win and didn’t walk a batter. He threw 80 pitches, 54 for strikes. Taylor said the Miners see LeBrun as a leader on the mound once again in 2017.

“He’s a rotation guy. He knows how this league works. He knows how to prepare himself. He’s definitely a true veteran ABL starter at this point,” Taylor said.

LeBrun, who made an appearance in relief during an exhibition win over the Anchorage Glacier Pilots early in the week, said he’s happy about his first start of the summer.

“It’s good to be back,” LeBrun said. “I felt good early. I was really sharp, hitting my spots.”

And when he did get the ball up in the zone, LeBrun said, the defense came through.’

“The defense made a bunch of good plays today,” LeBrun said.

Chandler-Gilbert right-hander Zach Hardy pitched the final two innings to record his first save of the summer.

Blake Benefield hit a leadoff double in the fourth and scored on an Oscar Marchena ground out in the top of the fourth to give Miners the 1-0 lead. Chugiak answered the Miners with a run in the bottom of the inning, but Austin Bull singled to drive in Quinn Cotton after Cotton’s leadoff triple in the fifth to give the Miners the 2-1 lead.

Justin Ammons singled and scored in the sixth to push Mat-Su’s lead to 3-1. Austin Bull drew a leadoff walk and scored on a Preston Pavlica single to round out the score in the seventh.

Benefield and Ammons finished with two his each in the victory.

With the win, Mat-Su improved to 4-0 overall and 2-0 in league play.

The game is the first of seven straight on the road for Mat-Su. The Miners begin a six-game, five-day stay in Kenai Friday night when they face the Peninsula Oilers at 7 p.m.

Contact Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman sports editor Jeremiah Bartz at sports@frontiersman.com.