Lefty leads Miners past Bucs

PALMER — During his first two starts of the summer, Trent Shelton was stellar, allowing just one earned run in about 12 innings pitched. But as he took the mound Friday, Shelton was still in search of his first career victory in the Alaska Baseball League.

With another dominant outing, the Cal Poly lefty finally earned that first win.

Shelton scattered five hits and allowed only one run over 7 2/3 innings, and led the Mat-Su Miners to a 2-1 win over the Anchorage Bucs at Mulcahy Stadium in Anchorage.

“Shelton was fantastic. He pounded the zone all night,” Mat-Su head coach Ben Taylor said in a press release issued by the team. “He threw strike one, and competed well with his secondary pitches. It was the effort we needed.”

Shelton now has a 0.90 earned run average in 20 innings this summer. He’s fanned 16 hitters, while walking only four. Friday, Shelton struck out four without surrendering a walk.

“I was getting ahead with the fastball and throwing a lot of changeups too,” Shelton said in the release.

With Shelton on the mound, Mat-Su needed only two runs to earn its 10th victory of the summer.

Mat-Su broke a scoreless tie in the fifth when Michael Donadio scored on an error. The Miners extended their lead in the seventh when Garrison Schwartz scored on a passed ball.

Schwartz, Donadio and Josh Bissonette each finished with a pair of hits for the Miners. Mat-Su collected 10 total hits in the game.

Gage Burland and Jordan Floyd also pitched in the game. Burland forced the final out of the eighth inning, Floyd pitched the ninth and notched his league-leading fifth save of the summer.

Mat-Su (10-6) also extended its lead at the top of the ABL standings. Entering play Saturday, Mat-Su stood as the lone team in the five-team league with a record over .500. Chugiak-Eagle River and the Bucs were both 9-10, 2.5 games behind Mat-Su in the standings, entering play Saturday.

The Miners returned to Anchorage Saturday night to face the Bucs. Results were unavailable prior to press time. Mat-Su finishes a four-game stretch against the Bucs Sunday at 2 p.m. at Mulcahy. The Miners return home Monday to host the Peninsula Oilers at 7 p.m.