Bucs edge Miners to win ABL title

PALMER — The Mat-Su Miners boasted the top pitching staff in the Alaska Baseball League throughout the 2015 summer season. Just about every statistic points to it.

With that, it takes a lot to out-duel the Miners on the mound. Tuesday, Anchorage Bucs right-hander Jim Voyles had what it takes.

Voyles tossed a four-hit complete game shutout to lead the Bucs to a 2-0 win over the Miners in the rubber match of the best-of-3 Alaska Baseball League Top of the World Series at Hermon Brothers Field in Palmer. With the win, the Bucs grabbed their first piece of an ABL title since 1998, and won the league crown outright for the first time since 1996.

Anchorage, the new ABL American League champion, used the shutout to take two games in a dramatic three-game set. Monday, after the teams battled through 11 scoreless innings, Anchorage plated six runners in the top of the 12th and took a series lead with a 6-2 victory. Tuesday afternoon, Mat-Su rallied and then survived a late scare to score a 4-3 victory and tie the series.

“What a great series,” said Mat-Su head coach Ben Taylor, after the Game 3 loss. “Two really good baseball teams that competed really hard. It’s really special to be part of that.”

Most special to Taylor, Mat-Su’s third-year skipper, was seeing his players bounce back from the tough Monday loss to rally and win Tuesday afternoon.

“My guys have proven time and time again, over and over again, how resilient they are, how tough they are,” Taylor said. “For them to battle back after (Monday) night and get to this third game, I had a lot of respect for these guys coming into this. I have even more now that the season’s over.”

Infielder Hunter Simmons sparked the Miners with a pair of RBI in the Game 2 victory.

After trailing 1-0 early, Matt Diorio led off the seventh with a double, and quickly scored on a Nyles Nygaard fielder’s choice to tie the game at 1. Later in the inning, Simmons knocked a ball deep into the right field corner to score Nygaard.

Simmons helped Mat-Su add to the lead in the ninth. Diorio walked to open the inning, and later scored on a two-out single by Simmons. Connor Wanhanen added a run-scoring single in the inning.

Corbin Martin pitched 2 2/3 innings of crucial relief, and earned the victory for the Miners. Martin didn’t allow a hit, and finished the season without allowing an earned run. Martin had a 0.00 earned run average in 19 appearances as a Miner.

In Game 3, Mat-Su pitchers Kyle Simonds and Calvin LeBrun combined to allow only seven hits and two runs, just one earned, but they were overshadowed by Voyles.

Voyles was also aided by three key double plays by the Bucs defense.

“That’s baseball,” Taylor said. “It’s a real tough game. It hurts being on the wrong end of things.”

With the loss, Mat-Su finishes as the ABL runner-up for the third straight year. The Miners finish the season 35-13.