Anchorage Glacier Pilots edge Miners in 9th

PALMER — The Anchorage Glacier Pilots could only manage five hits Friday night. But that didn’t seem to bother Anchorage. The Pilots didn’t even need a hit to push the game-winning run across home plate.

Kevin Lusson walked and scored the go-ahead run and Ernesto Ortiz walked to force another score during the Pilots’ two-run ninth inning of a 3-1 win over the Mat-Su Miners at Hermon Brothers Field.

“A couple of walks there late,” Mat-Su assistant coach Craig Ringe said. “They just capitalized.”

Anchorage used those two runs in the top of the ninth to break a 1-1 tie and improve to 2-6 in Alaska Baseball League play. Mat-Su dropped to 5-2 with a loss that knocked the Miners out of first place.

The teams, which played for the seventh time in the last two weeks, combined for just 11 hits in the game. With lackluster offensive numbers like that, it’s no surprise that the Pilots managed to load the bases and score two runs during an inning in which they grabbed just a single hit.

Anchorage’s Trevor Hairgrove led off the inning with a single off Mat-Su closer James Allen, but forced out at home on a fielder’s choice. Lusson followed with a walk. Nick Wagner bunted, but reached on the fielder’s choice when the Miners tried to get the lead runner at third.

That loaded the bases for Anchorage.

Clay Cederquist helped give the Pilots the 2-1 lead when his ground out allowed Lusson to score. Allen hit Cullen Mahoney with a pitch to load the bases again. Ortiz drew the bases loaded walk to give the Pilots the 3-1 lead.

The Pilots grabbed the late scores, but managed just a run and four hits off Mat-Su starter Joe Bircher.

“He was just outstanding tonight,” Ringe said of the Bradley sophomore. “He had three pitches in the zone. He threw a bunch of strikes, didn’t get behind. He was very good for us tonight.”

The southpaw fanned seven in the loss while walking just one hitter. Three of the hits Bircher allowed came in the first two innings.

Hairgrave came inches short of a solo shot in the first when he bounced a ball of the top of the Hermon Brothers left field fence. Hairgrove tripled, but Bircher quickly retired the next Pilot to get out of the inning.

In the second, Wagner led off the inning with a double and quickly scored on a Trent Garrison single. Following that Garrison run-scoring single, Bircher fanned six hitters over the next six innings.

Anchorage starter Ben Mount was nearly as good on the mound. Mount allowed five hits and an earned run over seven innings. He also struck out five and didn’t walk a batter.

“Both pitchers, I thought, had tremendous control of the zone tonight,” Ringe said of the game, that lasted just about two hours.

Tom Harlan earned the win after pitching an inning of scoreless relief. Justin Kemp closed the game and earned the save.

Mat-Su tied the score at 1 when Nick DiBiasse doubled and scored on a Matt Ozanne single.

Mat-Su was held to only six hits in the game.

“(Bircher) came out and threw a great game for us, gave us a great chance to win,” Ringe said. “Offensively, we were just not very good tonight.”

Ozanne and Andy Mee each had a pair of hits in the loss. DeBiasse and Tyler Ruch had one hit each.

A highlight for the Miners came in the fifth inning, when right fielder Joaquin Hinojosa made a SportsCenter-worthy grab. Hinojosa, parked in mid-right field, sprinted out of play and made a catch while sliding into the seats of the team’s bullpen to retire Cedrquist on the foul ball fly out.

The Pilots’ victory marked just the second over the Miners in seven meetings this season. Mat-Su finished 2-1 in three exhibition games against the Pilots early in the year, and are now 3-1 in four league games. The teams were scheduled to play late Saturday night in the Summer Solstice Game, but that match was postponed due to weather.

The game was pushed to July 6 and will be part of a doubleheader at Mulcahy Stadium in Anchorage.

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