Lefty leads Miners past Pilots

PALMER — Tyler Stubblefield entered the 2014 Alaska Baseball League season as one of the prized recruits of the Mat-Su Miners.

Monday, the Texas A&M lefty showed why.

Stubblefield dominated the Anchorage Glacier Pilots, fanning nine during a complete game four-hitter as he led the Miners to a 5-1 win over the Pilots at Mulcahy Stadium in Anchorage.

Stubblefield allowed only one earned run and walked just one batter during the win. He threw 105 total pitches, 74 for strikes. The Diboll, Texas, native improved to 4-0 on the season and lowered his league-leading earned run average to 1.26.

Stubblefield is enjoying, most likely, one of the best stretches by an Alaska Baseball League pitcher, this summer. He’s won four straight starts, allowing just a combined three earned runs in those games. Stubblfield also has 30 strikeouts during that span, and has worked at least seven innings in each of his last three starts. Stubblfield threw eight innings during a 4-1 in over the Peninsula Oilers on July 5, and tossed a seven-inning complete game to lead Mat-Su to a 4-1 win over the Oilers on June 29.

On June 22, Stubblefield struck out a season-best 11 in a 2-1 win over the Pilots.

Stubblefield also leads the ABL in strikeouts (34) and wins (4) during league play.

With Stubblefield keeping the Glacier Pilots hitters mostly silent, the Miners used a big fourth inning to break open the game. Anchorage actually led 1-0 heading into the fourth, but Mat-Su pieced together a handful of extra-bases hits to jump ahead.

Jonny Locher and Cameron Frost each had doubles in the inning, and Matt Decker blasted a two-run home run in the fourth. Hunter Simmons also singled to drive in a run.

Frost lifted his batting average to .339, finishing 3 for 4 at the plate. Locher, now batting .367, had a pair of hits. Five different Miners scored a run.

Anchorage’s lone run came via a Kevin Viers solo home run in the third.

Mat-Su padded its lead at the top of the ABL National Division with the win. The Miners improved to 15-9 in league play, and sit three games ahead of the second-place Pilots (14-14).

The Miners are down to their final half-dozen games on the home schedule. Mat-Su returns to Hermon Brothers Field Tuesday to host the Glacier Pilots at 6 p.m. The Miners follow with a two-game road trip to Fairbanks to play the Alaska Goldpanners.

The annual ABL/MLB Showcase starts Friday at Mulcahy Stadium in Anchorage. The Miners open with the Panners Friday at 4 p.m. and play the Anchorage Bucs Saturday at 7 p.m.

The ABL Home Run Derby and All-Star Game is Sunday at Mulcahy Stadium.

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