DOUBLE PLAY: Miners score key wins over Bucs

PALMER — Runs have been scarce for the Mat-Su Miners lately. But thanks to Mat-Su starter John Doxakis, Thursday, the Miners needed only one.

The Texas A&M lefthander tossed a three-hit, complete game shutout to lead the Miners to a 1-0 win over the Anchorage Bucs at Hermon Brothers Field in Palmer. The victory snapped Mat-Su’s four-game losing streak, a season-high, and kept the Miners at the top of the Alaska Baseball League standings.

“He was fantastic,” Mat-Su head coach Ben Taylor said of Doxakis. “Arguably the biggest game of the summer going in, after losing four in a row, he really stepped up.”

The Miners got the dominant outing from Doxakis on the mound, and a little help from the Bucs in the field. With two outs in the bottom of the sixth, Mat-Su designated hitter Andy Thomas lifted a playable fly ball into left field. But instead of it being the final out of the inning for the Miners, the ball deflected off the glove of Anchorage’s Jace VanDerBlake.

“Weird things happen in this game. There’s nothing for sure in this game,” Taylor said.

Mat-Su’s Preston Pavlica entered the game as a pinchrunner for Thomas. After Pavlica stole second, catcher Ryan Haug knocked a ball into left field and Pavlica scored from second to give the Miners the 1-0 lead.

“You have to take advantage of mistakes. We’ve lost some games because other teams have done it to us,” Taylor said.

With his run-scoring single, Haug recorded his fourth RBI of the summer and one of Mat-Su’s biggest hits of the second-half of the season.

“Really great. Big weight off our shoulders after we lost the last four to see that (ball) go through,” Haug said of his hit after the win.

Like Taylor, Haug said in situations like that, the team needs to step up and take advantage of opportunities.

“(Coach Taylor) prides us on running hard 90s, playing the game the right way, and the baseball gods will reward you,” Haug said. “Lazy fly ball, you kind of think it’s over and it turns into the game-winning run.”

The Miners scored only five total runs during the four-game losing streak, but Haug said the Miners aren’t over-reacting.

“There’s not much to talk about. We know we’ve got a bunch of good ballplayers on this team,” Haug said. “We’re still in first place, and we’re there for a reason.”

Taylor said regardless of the production, the effort continues to be there.

“It’s really obvious we haven’t put a lot of runs on the board lately,” Taylor said. “Guys have been grinding really hard. Guys are playing hard, working hard. Hopefully the game rewards us for it.”

Doxakis fanned nine hitters in the win, and walked only one. He lowered his earned run average to 0.50. The lefty also got some big assists from his defense. The Miners turned double plays in the fifth, sixth and seventh innings.

“That was huge. Me and Dox were talking in between innings, a double play ball, that’s three, four, five pitches less he has to throw. That’s the difference of him coming out in the sixth and throwing a complete game,” Haug said.

The victory was part of a big doubleheader sweep for the Miners, who added a 4-3 win over Anchorage later Thursday evening. Quinn Cotton singled a drove in Austin Bull in the bottom of the sixth to provide the go-ahead run.

Thaddeus Ward pitched a perfect sixth to earn the win in relief. Josh Green fanned two in the seventh and earned his fourth save of the season. Starter Calvin LeBrun allowed five hits and three earned runs over five, and fanned seven without walking a batter.

Justin Ammons, Blake Benefield and Austin Bull finished with two hits each in the win. Benefield recorded his league-leading 30th RBI of the summer.

Mat-Su improved to 20-12 in ABL play and pushed its league lead to 2 ½ games heading into the ABL’s all-star break. The second-place Bucs dropped to 17-14.

The five ABL teams will take a three-day weekend from league play and participate in the annual ABL/MLB Scouts Showcase. Mat-Su plays the Peninsula Oilers Friday at 1 p.m. and the Bucs Saturday at 7 p.m. at Mulcahy Stadium in Anchorage. Both are nonleague games. The ABL hosts its annual home run derby and all-star game Sunday. The derby is at 1 p.m. and the all-star game starts at 4. Both events are at Mulcahy.

Contact Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman sports editor Jeremiah Bartz at sports@frontiersman.com.