Local products, Jersey native, help Miners sweep Pilots

PALMER — The Mat-Su Miners gave the Anchorage Glacier Pilots a taste of Alaska Grown Tuesday night, with a side of Jersey Mike’s.

Homegrown talents Jacob Butcher and Nolan Monaghan made starts on the mound and Mike Antico, a native of Colts Neck, New Jersey, hit a pair of home runs as the Miners swept the Pilots in a doubleheader on the final day of the Alaska Baseball League regular season.

Mat-Su improved to 35-14 overall and 30-14 in league play with the victories, and extended its winning streak to nine games. The Miners are the top seed in the ABL playoffs, which start Wednesday at Hermon Brothers Field.

Mat-Su hosts the Oilers in the semifinal best-of-3 set. Game 1 is slated for Wednesday at 6 p.m. Game 2 follows Thursday at 2 p.m., with a third game, if necessary, to begin 40 minutes following the conclusion of the second game.

A pair of Anchorage squads battle in the other semifinal. The second-seeded Bucs host the third-seeded Glacier Pilots in the best-of-3 series at Mulcahy Stadium in Anchorage. Game 1 is Wednesday at 6. Game 2 is Thursday at 4, with a third game, if necessary, to follow.

The winners of each set will meet in the ABL Top of the World Series, which starts Friday at the home field of the highest seed left in the tournament.

Butcher, a 2013 graduate of Colony High School, pitched six scoreless innings to lead the Miners to a 10-0 win over the Pilots in the first leg of the doubleheader. Butcher scattered five hits, fanned one and walked one. He lowered his earned run average to 1.78.

Antico hit a pinch-hit two-run home run in the win. Austin Dennis finished 3 of 4, with three runs scored and an RBI. Elijah MacNamee was 2 for 3 and also scored three times. Austin Bull added two hits and two RBI.

Monaghan, a 2016 Wasilla High graduate, earned the start in the second game. The lefty got the no-decision, but fanned four over five innings of work.

Antico, who had only one extra base hit entering the final day of the regular season, added a solo shot, and scored twice. MacNamee had two hits and drove in two. Quin Cotton, who earned the ABL regular-season batting title with his .331 average, drove in a run and scored a run. Andy Thomas had a hit, run and RBI.

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