Bucs gets past Mat-Su, but Miners maintain league lead

There is one thing the Alaska Baseball League season has seen much during the first three weeks of the 2022 summer season, a Mat-Su Miners loss. But the Anchorage Bucs found a way to get past the Valley club Thursday night.

Anchorage used an early lead to score a 6-4 win over the Miners at Hermon Brothers Field in Palmer. It was only the third loss of the season, but the 13-3 Miners are still four games ahead of the second-place Anchorage Glacier Pilots, as of Thursday night.

Anchorage tagged Mat-Su starter Rhett McCaffety for seven hits and three earned runs over seven innings. The lefty did fan seven, while walking only two.

Trailing 6-1, Mat-Su battled back with three runs in the bottom of the eighth. Casey Sunseri started it off with a solo shot to lead off the inning. Later in the eighth, Steven Lancia and Nathan Rose scored on Alex Vergara’s two-run double.

Sunseri and Jacob Steele had two hits each.

The Miners used a dozen hits to earn a 9-5 win over the Anchorage Bucs Wednesday night at Mulcahy Stadium in Anchorage.

Infielder Josh Paino sparked the Miners with his first home run of the summer. Paino was 3 for 5, with a team-best four RBI.

The Miners improved to 13-2 with the victory, and extended their winning streak to six games. As of Wednesday, the first-place Miners had an eight-game lead.

The top three hitters in the lineup — Casey Sunseri, Paino and Steven Lancia — had three hits each. Sunseri, hitting leadoff, scored four runs. Lancia added two RBI. Sunseri and Lancia both tripled in the win.

Daniel Frake earned the victory in relief. He allowed three hits and fanned three over three innings.

The Miners also scored a 2-1 walk-off win over the Anchorage Glacier Pilots Tuesday night at Hermon Brothers Field in Palmer.

Jacob Steele singled in the bottom of the ninth and Nathan Rose scored to give the Miners their second walk-off in as many nights. Mat-Su bounced the Bucs with a 6-5 walk-0ff win in the bottom of the 10th on Monday.

The Pilots took a 1-0 lead in the seventh. Paino led off the eighth with a double and scored an an Anchorage error to tie the score at 1.

Paino led Mat-Su with two hits.

Kole Tauzin pitched the ninth and earned the win in relief. Starter Chandler David fanned five over five innings.

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