Infielder’s big day leads Peninsula Oilers past Mat-Su Miners

KENAI — A five-RBI day from Chris Mallory and a dominant effort from the bullpen pushed the Peninsula Oilers to a 5-4 victory over the Mat-Su Miners on Sunday at Coral Seymour Memorial Park in Kenai.

The triumph put the Oilers alone in first place in the Alaska Baseball League with an 11-6 record, as of Sunday night. The second-place Miners were moved a game back, with a 12-9 mark. The teams met again Monday night, but results were not available before Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman press time.

The win marked the Oilers’ fourth straight, with each of those wins coming by a lone run.

Mallory finished 3 for 4 to collect all but two of the team’s hits and help Peninsula come back from a 4-1 deficit.

“When anybody in our lineup has a day like that, I’m happy, but I’m not surprised,” Oilers head coach Dennis Machado said. “I feel good about this group all through the lineup.”

Mallory gave the Oilers a 1-0 lead in the first inning with a home run to left field.

That momentum quickly fizzled in the top of the second, when the Miners got to Oilers starter Justin Haley for three runs. Mat-Su loaded the bases when Mason Guymon singled on a 0-2 pitch.

The great two-strike hitting continued when Tim Zier drilled a 1-2 pitch through the right side of the infield to score Kevin Lum and Michael Suiter, and move Guymon to third.

Ryan Ford then hit a potential double-play grounder to second base. By beating out the throw from Mike Miller, Ford allowed Guymon to score.

When Haley walked Stephen Branca to start the third, Machado went to J.D. Salles. Although Salles allowed Branca to score on a single by Lum, his effort on the mound would help turn the game.

The winner pitched four scoreless innings and gave up just one hit while fanning two. Salles said he was spotting his fastball, and his slider started working in his second and third innings of work.

“We had one of our team leaders — Troy Channing — say in the third inning, ‘We are going to win this game,’” Salles said.

Mallory and the bullpen proved Channing prophetic.

In the bottom of third, Manny Reyes singled, Nate Ring walked and Mike Miller singled to load the bases with no outs for Mallory.

The second baseman smacked the first pitch he saw from Miners starter Mark Anderson to the gap in left-center field. All three runs scored, and Mallory was thrown out trying to stretch the double into a triple.

“I was just trying to put something good in play and help us get some runs back,” Mallory said.

Miners reliever and loser Ben Graff came on for Anderson in the fourth and, like Salles, did a good job of stanching the scoring. His lone hiccup was enough to decide the game.

With two outs in the fifth, Miller reached on an error by third baseman Cam Kneeland and went to second on a wild pitch. Mallory seized the moment again by working a full count and delivering the game-winning single.

“I knew he would have to bring me something because he didn’t want to walk me with (Patrick) Wisdom coming up,” said Mallory, who thanked host parents Michele and Jamie Peterson for all their support this season.

That one run would be enough for the bullpen.

After James Mannara got the first two outs of the seventh, Reese McGraw entered with a runner on first and struck out Branca. McGraw faced the minimum in the eighth and ninth innings, striking out Zier to punctuate a 14-strike, four-ball outing and earn the save in another close victory for the Oilers.

“When you’re winning close baseball games, you’re getting timely hitting, quality defense and quality pitching,” Machado said. “Regardless if it’s 3-2 or 10-9, at some point you’re going to have to stop them.”

Oilers 3, Miners 2

KENAI — First, it looked as if this game could be won by the hitters.

Then, the Peninsula Oilers’ pitchers took over — and now there’s a tie atop the Alaska Baseball League standings.

John Maciel, Brandon Kizer and Tyler Blum supplied a sterling pitching effort Saturday night for the Oilers, who used two early runs, tacked another one on late and survived a ninth-inning rally for a 3-2 victory over the Mat-Su Miners at Coral Seymour Memorial Park.

“Hopefully this gives us a little push,” said Maciel, who allowed one run over 6 1-3 innings, earning the win. “We’ve just got to take it pitch by pitch, day by day.”

Maciel had all his pitches working Saturday in the latest solid effort from the Oilers’ staff, which has allowed two earned runs over the past 36 innings.

On a night the teams combined for three runs over the first three innings — a generous amount given how many low-scoring affairs the Oilers have played this season — Maciel worked deliberately.

He struck out six batters, walked three and yielded three hits in keeping his ERA at 0.00 in 19 1-3 innings of league play, improving to 2-0.

The right-hander found a rhythm after allowing his lone run on a Wesley Jones single in the third, mowing through the lineup in a game that lasted just 2 hours, 8 minutes.

“Anytime you can work quickly, it keeps the hitters a little off balance and they don’t have as much time to collect themselves,” Maciel said. “It’s kind of a personal thing for me. When I work slow, I start to think about things too much.”

Maciel pitched with the lead from the fourth inning on after Mike Miller, who was 2 for 4, ripped a double to the wall in left field to score Nate Ring, giving the Oilers a 2-1 in the bottom of the third.

That was all Peninsula would manage against Mat-Su starter and loser Mark Anderson, who scattered nine hits over seven innings, striking out three without walking a batter. He threw 94 pitches and tossed shutout ball over his last four inning.

Brandon Kizer replaced Maciel with one out in the seventh, pitching 1 2-3 shutout innings.

The Oilers added an insurance run in the eighth on a Manny Acosta sacrifice fly to give closer Tyler Blum a two-run cushion entering the ninth.

Blum got into a jam after third baseman Patrick Wisdom committed his second error of the game, fumbling a Wesley Jones grounder to lead off the inning.

After a walk and a fielder’s choice, Kevin Lum cut the lead in half with a single on an 0-2 count. Blum then got Adam Martin and Ryan Ford to hit into consecutive fielder’s choices with two men on, preserving the win.

“I had complete confidence in my guy,” Maciel said of Blum, who has been erratic at times. “I knew he was going to get the job done.

Peninsula did a good job at the plate for the second time in as many nights, banging out 11 hits.

Chris Mallory, Troy Channing and Miller each had two hits. Manny Acosta, who is 6 for his last 12, added another.

The squad has 22 hits over the past two games.

“Just trying to hit the ball hard and down the center and making the adjustments,” Channing said of the recent success. “That’s really what it’s all about in baseball — making those adjustments.”

Although the Oilers moved into a tie with the Miners atop the standings, coach Dennis Machado didn’t give the win any special status; not with the squad less than halfway through the league schedule.

“It’s no different than any game we’ve played or will play,” Machado said. “It’s about the guys showing up ready to play, day in and day out.”