Chinooks suffer early-season losses

CHUGIAK — The Anchorage Glacier Pilots scored a pair of runs in the bottom of the fourth inning, and held on f roa 3-0 win over the Chugiak-Eagle River Chinooks Sunday at Mulcahy Stadium in Anchorage.

The Chinooks were held to five hits in the loss. Justin Gomez finished with a pair of singles, and Aaron Schackleford doubled.

Will Brennan was 3 for 4 at the plate to lead Anchorage.

The defeat followed a 6-5 loss to the Anchorage Bucs Friday in Anchorage.

Chugiak took a 5-3 lead with a four-run seventh inning, but the Bucs walked off with the win after scoring three runs in the bottom of the ninth.

Schackleford and Luke Coffey finished with a pair of doubles in the loss.

Miners get by Chinooks

The Mat-Su Miners grabbed a pair of wins over the Chugiak Chinooks last week.

Starter Calvin 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.

Luke Gilcrease scored Chugiak’s lone run of the game, tying the score in the bottom of the fourth

The night before, Mat-Su starter Andrew Nardi survived Chugiak-Eagle River’s four-run third, and the Miners scored seven unanswered runs during a 10-4 victory over the Chinooks Wednesday night at Hermon Brothers Field in Palmer.

It’s the third time in as many nights that the Miners trailed within the first four innings before rallying for a victory.