AIA Fire burn Miners late

PALMER — The Athletes in Action Fire are an Alaska Baseball League team without a home. But on Sunday, the Fire made themselves at home at Hermon Brothers Field.

Ryan Miller used a run-scoring single in the bottom of the ninth to give AIA the 6-5 win over the Miners.

AIA had been based out of Fairbanks and shared Growden Field along with Interior rival Alaska Goldpanners. After the Panners withdrew from league play this season, the Fire found themselves without a home for the summer. They’ll play at visiting ballparks throughout the summer, but on some days AIA is the home team on the scoreboard.

Sunday was one of those days, and the Fire took advantage of it.

AIA used the walk-off hit to answer Mat-Su’s game-tying run in the top of the ninth.

The Miners, who finished with only four hits in the game, plated a run in the ninth without a hit in the inning.

Cam Kneeland led off the inning with a walk. Newcomer Michael Gerlach reached on a walk and Michael Suiter drew another walk to load the bases.

With the bases loaded, Nick Rosso coaxed yet another base on ball to push Kneeland home and tie the game at 5.

Mat-Su may have only had four hits in the game, but had 18 base runners in the loss. The Miners drew a dozen walks and cashed in on a half-dozen fire errors. Mat-Su head coach Brian Yocke said the Miners are going to have to sport an offense that doesn’t have to collect eight or nine hits a game to be successful.

“Our offense is not going to be like theirs. We’re not going to get that big double all the time. We’re not going to get that big home run especially — we only have one home run on the season. The way we’re going to have to play is the way we played (Sunday),” Yocke said. “Put balls in play, make them make plays. Take our walks.”

Kneeland and Suiter each drew three walks in the loss. Catcher Mason Guymon earned the free pass twice.

Guymon managed to drive in a pair of runs, without a hit.

Guymon drew a walk with the bases loaded in the third inning to push Kevin Lum across the plate and give the Miners the 2-0 lead. In the seventh, Guymon pushed Gerlach across with a sacrifice.

Ryan Ford walked and scored on an error to give the Miners the early 1-0 lead in the first. Lum added to that advantage with a run-scoring single later in the inning.

Mat-Su carried a 3-1 lead into the fifth, but AIA put together a pair of runs to tie the score at 3.

Jerrod Eigsti singled. Later in the inning, Scott Kalamar sent a shot over the right field fence to even the score.

Mat-Su took the 4-3 lead in the seventh with the Guymon sacrifice, but AIA grabbed the advantage right back with two more in the eighth. Marshall McDonald and JJ Turbin both notched run-scoring doubles in the inning.

Ryan Dull was tagged with the loss in relief. Dull allowed four hits and three earned runs in 2 1/3 innings. Michael White pitched two-thirds of an inning to win in relief for the Fire.

Contact Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman sports editor Jeremiah Bartz at sports@frontiersman.com and follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/matsu_sports.