Mat-Su closer stomps late Fire rally

PALMER — The first 26 outs were the easy part.

The 27th, and final out of the ballgame, was a bit more difficult.

Mat-Su closer Ryan Cole forced Brian Kolb to pop out with the bases loaded to save the Miners’ 4-2 win over the Athletes in Action Fire at Hermon Brothers Field on Wednesday.

Cole, the St. John’s junior who posted his second save in four games, quickly retired AIA’s first two hitters of the ninth.

And then things got interesting.

Scott Urbanek and Austin Schultz each reached on Mat-Su errors. Those plays sandwiched a walk Ryan Gebhart drew off a full count.

“That’s baseball,” Mat-Su head coach Russell Raley said. “That’s what I was telling the guys. That’s why you’ve got to play 27 outs. All 27 outs are important, and sometimes that last one is just tough.”

Thanks to the errors and the walk, the Fire — who had trailed by at least two runs for much of the final six innings of the game —suddenly found themselves with the winning run at the plate after the two-out rally.

But Cole closed the door on AIA.

“He did a great job,” Raley said. “I think the ninth inning, or late eighth and the ninth, is for him. I think that’s for his personality. It fits him and hopefully for this team, he can keep it up.”

Designated hitter Jonathon Cisneros and right fielder D.J. Gentile each knocked a two-run homer over the Hermon Brothers right field fence to spark the Mat-Su offense and lead the Miners (5-1) to their fifth win in as many tries.

Cisneros gave the Miners the 2-0 lead in the fourth when he recorded Mat-Su’s first home run of the season. With help from an inside fastball AIA starter Ryan Woolley served up right above Cisneros’ knees and a bit of wind blowing toward right field, the San Antonio, Texas, native was able to give Mat-Su the early advantage.

“I put a pretty good swing on it, but I saw that outfielder starting to track it,” Cisneros said. “But it kept going and going.”

With the count at two balls and no strikes, Cisneros said he was just looking for a pitch he could hit.

“We gave some guys some chances in some counts and turned them loose,” Raley said. “They took some really good swings.”

Cisneros drew a walk in the sixth and scored when Gentile homered to right field. Gentile, who returned to the Miners after leading the team with a .370 batting average last season, gave the Miners the 4-2 lead.

R.L. Eisenbach pitched a strong six innings to earn the win. The Lubbuck Christian product allowed five hits and walked only one hitter. He also struck out six.

“Eisenbach did a great job,” Raley said. “When he got ahead, I thought they didn’t have a whole lot of a chance to drive the ball against him. We got what we thought we would out of him.”

Eisenbach allowed just one hit — a Chris Kievit single — during the first three innings. And Kievit was quickly gunned down by Mat-Su catcher Nick Croce when he tried to steal second.

Infielders Blake Newalu and Shane Brown led the Miners with two hits each during the win.

Center fielder Nick Cox singled and stole a pair of bases in the victory.

Mat-Su and AIA (1-3, 0-2) meet again tonight at 7 p.m. at Hermon Brothers Field. The Miners also host the Anchorage Glacier Pilots at 2 p.m. on Sunday.

Contact Frontiersman sports editor Jeremiah Bartz at sports@frontiersman.com.